DOCTRINE OF
BASIC STRUCTURE
By Himanshu Tyagi,
First year LLB,
What and Why Law: It is very difficult to state a single and accurate definition of the term ‘law’ as it is a general term and has different connotations for different people. On the one hand a common man may think of law as a set of rules he has to obey on the other hand for a judge, it is nothing but a set of guiding principles to be applied in deciding the cases.
Law is everywhere, if you examine the human
being life, there is ‘LAW OF NATURE’. One day everyone has to die and no one is
immortal on this earth. God treats everyone equally and all the creations of
god are regulated by uniform law. Same as law is necessary for the protection,
peace, development and prosperity of any nation. Without
law there can be no order and without order there can be no peace and progress.
Without law society will be the part of jungle. Everyone will be wild, violent,
and greedy and mighty has right will prevail. That’s why law is mandatory for
preventing injustice. According to Blackstone, law in its most general and
comprehensive sense signifies a rule of action and is applied indiscriminately
to all kinds of action whether animate or inanimate, rational or irrational.[1]
and in the words of Austin A law is a rule of conduct imposed and enforced by
the sovereign. Thus these rules of conduct are essential for peaceful &
prosperous living of the people in the country.
Necessity of Amending Provisions in the Constitution
Provisions
for amendment of the constitution is made with a view to overcome the
difficulties which may encounter in future in the working of the constitution.
The time is not static; it goes on changing .The social, economic and political
conditions of the people go on changing so the constitutional law of the
country must also change in order toward it to the changing needs, changing life of the people. If no
provisions were made for amendment of the constitution, the people would have
recourse to extra constitutional method like revolution to change the
constitution.[2]. The framers of the Indian constitution were anxious to have a
document which could grow with a growing nation, adapt itself to the changing
circumstances of a growing people.
A R Antulay: ‘The Constitution has to be changed
at every interval of time. Nobody can say that this is the finality. A
constitution which is static is a constitution which ultimately becomes a big
hurdle in the path of the progress of the nation.’
Restriction on parliament power of Amending Provisions in
the Constitution and Judicial Review
The framers of the Indian
constitution were also aware of that fact that if the constitution was so
flexible it would be like playing cards of the ruling party so they adopted a
middle course. It is neither too rigid to admit necessary amendments, nor
flexible for undesirable changes.
They knew the real value of the
freedom so they framed a constitution in which every person is equal and there
is no discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, sex and religion. They
wanted to build a welfare nation where the social, economical, political rights
of the general person recognize. The one of the wonderful aspect of our
constitution is Fundamental rights and for the protection of these rights they
provided us an independent judiciary. According to constitution, parliament and
state legislature in
THEORY OF BASIC STRUCTURE
The question whether fundamental rights can be amended under article 368 came for consideration in the Supreme Court in Shankari Prasad case.[3] in this case validity of constitution (1st amendment) act, 1951 which inserted inter alia , articles 31-A and 31-B of the constitution was challenged. The amendment was challenged on the ground that it abridges the rights conferred by part III and hence was void. The Supreme Court however rejected the above argument and held that power to amend including the fundamental rights is contained in Article 368and the same view was taken by court in Sajjan Singh case.[4]
In Golak Nath case,[5]the validity of 17th Amendment which inserted certain acts in Ninth Schedule was again challenged. The Supreme Court ruled the parliament had no power to amend Part III of the constitution and overruled its earlier decision in Shankari Prasad and Sajjan Singh case. In order to remove difficulties created by the decision of SC in Golak Nath case parliament enacted the 24th Amendment act. The Supreme Court recognized BASIC STRUCTURE concept for the first time in the historic Kesavananda Bharati[6] case in 1973. Ever since the SupremeCourt has been the interpreter of the Constitution and the arbiter of all amendments made by parliament. In this case validity of the 25th Amendment act was challenged
along with the
Twenty-fourth and Twenty-ninth Amendments. The court by majority overruled the
Golak Nath case which denied parliament the power to amend fundamental rights
of the citizens. The majority held that article 368 even before the 24th
Amendment contained the power as well as the procedure of amendment. The Supreme Court declared that Article 368 did
not enable Parliament to alter the basic structure or framework of the
Constitution and parliament could not use its amending powers under Article368
to 'damage', 'emasculate', 'destroy', 'abrogate',
'change' or 'alter' the 'basic structure' or framework of the constitution. This
decision is not just a landmark in the evolution of constitutional law, but a
turning point in constitutional history.
Basic Features of the Constitution according to the
Kesavanada verdict each judge laid out
separately, what he thought were the basic or essential features of the Constitution.
Sikri,
C.J. explained that the concept of basic structure included:
• Supremacy
of the Constitution
• Republican
and democratic form of government
• Secular
character of the Constitution
• Separation
of powers between the legislature, executive and the judiciary
• Federal
character of the Constitution
Shelat,
J. and Grover, J. added three more basic features to this list:
• The
mandate to build a welfare state contained in the Directive Principles of State
Policy
•
Unity and integrity of the nation
•
Sovereignty of the country.
Unegde,
J. and Mukherjea, J. identified a separate and shorter list of basic features:
•
Sovereignty of
•
Democratic character of the polity
•
Unity of the country
•
Essential features of the individual freedoms secured to the citizens
•
Mandate to build a welfare state
Jaganmohan Reddy, J. stated that elements of the basic
features were to be found in the Preamble
Of the
Constitution and the provisions into which they translated such as:
• Sovereign democratic republic
• Justice - social, economic and political
•
• Equality of status and the opportunity.
He said that the Constitution would not be
itself without the fundamental freedoms and the directive principles.
[7]
Former Chief Justice K. Subba Rao in an article on the two judgments Golaknath and Kesavananda Bharati, expressed the view:
"The existence of a remote judicial control may only act as a brake against hasty and unreasonable legislative and executive action and as a form of guarantee to the public against instability. The stability of the Constitution stabilizes the State."[8]
Basic Structure concept reaffirmed- the Indira Gandhi
Election case
In Indira Gandhi v. Raj
Narayan[9] the Supreme Court applied the
theory of basic structure and struck down cl.(4) of article 329-A,which was
inserted by the 39th Amendment in 1975 on the ground that it was
beyond the amending power of the parliament as it destroyed the ‘basic feature’
of the constitution. The amendment was made to
the jurisdiction of all courts including SC, over disputes relating to
elections involving the Prime Minister of India.
Basic Features of the
Constitution according to the Election case verdict
Again, each judge expressed views about what amounts to the
basic structure of the Constitution:
Justice Y.V. Chandrachud listed four basic features which he considered unamendable:
• Sovereign democratic republic status
• Equality of status and opportunity of an individual
• Secularism and freedom of conscience and religion
• 'government of laws and not of men' i.e. the rule
of law
Justice
H.R. Khanna- ‘democracy is a basic feature of
the Constitution and includes free and fair elections.’
Basic structure doctrine
reaffirmed- the Minerva Mills
In Minerva Mills case[10] the Supreme Court by majority by 4
to 1 majority struck down clauses(4) and (5) of the article 368 inserted by 42nd
Amendment, on the ground that these clauses destroyed the essential feature of
the basic structure of the constitution. It was ruled by court that a limited amending power itself is a basic feature of the
Constitution
In L. Chandra Kumar case [11]
a larger Bench of seven Judges unequivocally declared
"That
the power of judicial review over legislative action vested in the High Courts
under Article 226 and in the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution
is an integral and essential feature of the Constitution, constituting part of
its basic structure".
Conclusion
Now we can say, there is no hard and fast rule for basic feature of the Constitution. Different judge keep different views regarding to theory of basis structure. But at one point they have similar view that parliament has no power to destroy, alter, or emasculate the 'basic structure' or framework of the constitution. ‘If the historical background, the preamble, the entire scheme of the constitution and the relevant provisions thereof including article 368 are kept in mind then there can be no difficulty, in determining what are the basic elements of the basic structure of the constitution. These words apply with greater force to doctrine of the basic structure, because, the federal and democratic structure of the constitution, the separation of powers, the secular character of our state are very much more definite than either negligence or natural justice.’[12].So for the protection of welfare state, fundamental rights, Unity and integrity of the nation, Sovereign democratic republic and for Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship, interpretation of judiciary is mandatory. We can say none is above constitution even parliament and judiciary.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS
Basu, D.D., Commentary on the Constitution of
Seervai,
H.M., Constitutional Law of
Chagla,
M.C., Role of Judiciary in Parliamentary Democracy, 1974
Pandey,J.N., Constitutional law of
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[1]
Salmond 'Jurisprudence' p.20 (11th edition)
[2] Kesavananda Bharati v. State of
[3] Sankari Prasad Singh v.
[4] Sajjan Singh v.
State of
[5] Golak Nath
v.State of
[6] Kesavananda Bharati v. State of
[7] His Holiness Kesavananda Bharati Sripadagalavaru v State of
[8] (1973) 2 SCC
(Journal), p. 1 at p. 27
[9] Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain, AIR 1975 SCC 2299
[10] Minerva Mills Ltd. v.
[11] L. Chandra Kumar v.
Union of India (1997) 3 SCC
261(at SCC p. 301, para 78)
[12]
H.M, Seervai: Constitutional law of India VOI.II, P. 1568 (2ND ED.)