Article 255 of the Constitution of India: Recommendations and Previous Sanctions
Article 255 is contained in Part XI of the Constitution of India, dealing with relations between the Union and the States. It addresses the effect of a failure to obtain a constitutional recommendation or previous sanction before legislation is enacted.
Text of Article 255
255. Requirements as to recommendations and previous sanctions to be regarded as matters of procedure only.
No Act of Parliament or of the Legislature of a State, and no provision in any such Act, shall be invalid by reason only that some recommendation or previous sanction required by this Constitution was not given, if assent to that Act was given-
(a) where the recommendation required was that of the Governor, either by the Governor or by the President;
(b) where the recommendation required was that of the Rajpramukh, either by the Rajpramukh or by the President;
(c) where the recommendation or previous sanction required was that of the President, by the President.
What Article 255 means
The Article creates a limited constitutional saving rule. Its focus is a defect consisting only of the absence of a recommendation or previous sanction required by the Constitution. Where the corresponding assent identified in Article 255 is ultimately given, that procedural omission by itself does not invalidate the Act or a provision of the Act.
When the protection under Article 255 applies
Where the required recommendation is that of the Governor, assent by either the Governor or the President can satisfy Article 255. Where the recommendation or previous sanction required is that of the President, the saving operates when the President gives assent. The constitutional text also retains a clause referring to the Rajpramukh.
Scope of the provision
The words by reason only are important. Article 255 addresses the specified procedural defect; it does not state that every other constitutional objection to an enactment is cured by assent. Questions such as legislative competence or compliance with other substantive constitutional limitations must therefore be considered under the provisions governing those issues.
Historical reference to Rajpramukh
Clause (b) still appears in the constitutional text and refers to the Rajpramukh. This is a historical expression associated with the former constitutional classification of States. The official text also records amendments connected with the reorganisation of the States and omission of earlier wording from Article 255.
Official constitutional resources
For the authoritative constitutional text and amendment notes, see the Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice and the India Code portal.
Related constitutional provisions
Article 255 follows Articles 253 and 254 in Part XI. For context, readers may also review the pages on Articles 251 and 252, Articles 253 and 254, and Articles 256 and 257.
This page is a general legal information resource. For an issue involving the validity of a particular enactment, the relevant constitutional provision, legislative history, assent and applicable judicial decisions should be examined together.