Covid-19 crisis: Imposing a financial emergency can be useful

The key issue in a financial emergency is the provision for govt employees' salary cut

On March 26, the Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC), a governance reform outfit, filed a petition with the Supreme Court, seeking that the Centre must declare a financial emergency in view of the country-wide lockdown imposed after the COVID-19 outbreak. This was a public interest litigation that pleaded with the apex court that it must direct the Centre to use the financial emergency provisions under Article 360 of the Indian Constitution.

Two days earlier, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had ruled out the imposition of a financial emergency, while announcing the government’s decision on March 24 to extend the