Frequent reliance on the ordinance making power by the government, not only dilutes the basic tenets of executive accountability in a parliamentary democracy, but also overlooks the democratic traditions of building consensus. Discuss with relevant examples.

Ordinance making powers of President and governors are provided to ensure continuity in governance and plug any gaps during legislative inaction. However, the exceptional power has been over time misused to bypass the legislative route and to press forward agendas/bills without consensus. Ordinance route diluting democratic executive accountability: 1) The prescribed function of executive is implementation of laws, not formulation.

Ordinance route further overlooks the tradition of building consensus: i) Opposition parties are not consulted. ii) Not even alliance partners are taken into loop. iii) Public scrutiny is avoided. iv) Expert opinions are sidelined. v) A bottom-up approach is replaced with top-down model of governance. Any law/ordinance imposed through executive excess without consulting legislators and developing a consensus is found to backfire in a vibrant democratic set-up. Such effort to bypass legislative traditions should be curtailed and used exceptionally.