President cautions govt against ordinance route

New Delhi, Jan 19: With the Modi government opting for ordinances eight times in as many months, President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday cautioned against the "ordinance route" being taken for normal legislations.

Ordinances are meant for specific purpose "to meet an extraordinary situation under extraordinary circumstances", the President said citing the Constitution.

Amidst talk that the government may convene a joint session of Parliament to pass legislations in view of the deadlock in the Rajya Sabha where it does not have a majority, Mukherjee said passage of legislations in that manner "is not practicable because I have seen from 1952 till today only four times laws were passed by joint session".

The remarks of the President, who was answering questions during an address to Central varsities and research institutions, come against the backdrop of the Modi government having issued eight ordinances including those for raising the FDI limit in the insurance sector and e-auctioning of coal mines.

The President had recently called three senior ministers including Arun Jaitley and raised questions over the urgency of the ordinance relating to acquisition of land. However, he later gave assent to it.

PTI