Decree Barred in Challenge to Gorbachev

The Soviet Union’s constitutional watchdog has struck down a decree on rallies issued by President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Tass news agency said today, in the first such attempt to limit his powers.

The Constitutional Compliance Committee ruled unconstitutional a decree issued by Gorbachev in April that took the power to authorize rallies in Moscow from the City Council and gave it to the Soviet central government.

It was the first time a presidential decree has been struck down by the committee, which was established this year as part of reforms proposed by Gorbachev to oversee compliance with the Soviet constitution.

Gorbachev’s power to rule by decree, granted by Parliament in March as part of his new presidential post, appears virtually unlimited as laid down in the constitution.

He has used it most frequently in relation to rebellious republics, ordering paramilitary groups to turn in their weapons and declaring invalid a law passed by the Russian Federation that claimed control of the republic’s natural resources.

The Tass report that the committee had suspended the decree suggested that Gorbachev is expected to rewrite the document or repeal it.

The constitutional committee, whose 19 members were named by Parliament in April, was established as a rough equivalent of a constitutional court, part of an attempt to create a division of powers in the hitherto monolithic Soviet government.

But it does not have the right to repeal decrees or laws by itself.

Once the committee rules a law or decree unconstitutional, the measure is then suspended for three months. During that time, the Parliament that passed the law--or in this case, the president--is supposed to correct the problem.

The decision was announced just two days before a rally is to be held by radicals in Moscow calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikolai I. Ryzhkov, who has been severely criticized for his handling of the country’s economic crisis.