LPAD

The legislative powers of the States and the Centre are defined in the constitution under article 246 of the Constitution of India and these powers are divided into three lists as referred to in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.

The Seventh Schedule of Constitution of India contains the Union List (List I), State List (List II) and Concurrent List (List III). The said lists specify the subjects on which the Parliament, State Legislatures and both Parliament and State Legislatures can legislate, respectively.

Legislative proposals are brought before legislative assembly of the State, in the form of a Bill. A Bill is the draft of a legislative proposal, which, when passed by legislative assembly and assented to by the Governor, becomes an Act of State Legislature. Similar procedure is followed in the Parliament.

The Minister-in-charge of the concerned Department present the Bill.

Ordinances are temporary laws that are promulgated by the Governor of a State under article 213 of the Constitution of India on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers of the concerned State. They can only be issued when legislative assembly of the State is not in session. They enable the State government to take immediate legislative action. Similar procedure is followed by the Union Government.

The expression ‘subordinate legislation’ means the act of making statutory instruments by a body subordinate to the Legislature and in exercise of the power, within specific limits, conferred by the Legislature. The term also connotes and covers the statutory instruments themselves.