Constitutional Law in India

Constitution of India is the supreme law of India. It lays down the framework defining fundamental political principles, establishing the structure, procedures, powers and duties, of the government and spells out the fundamental rights, directive principles and duties of citizens. Passed by the Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949, it came into effect on 26 January 1950. The date 26 January was chosen to commemorate the declaration of independence of 1930. It declares the Union of India to be a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic, assuring its citizens of justice, equality, and liberty and to promote among them all fraternity; the words "socialist", "secular" and "integrity" and to promote among them all "Fraternity"; were added to the definition in 1976 by constitutional amendment.India celebrates the adoption of the constitution on 26 January each year as Republic Day. It is the longest written constitution of any sovereign country in the world, containing 448 articles in 22 parts, 12 schedules and 94 amendments, for a total of 117,369 words in the English language version. Besides the English version, there is an official Hindi translation. After coming into effect, the Constitution replaced the Government of India Act 1935  as the governing document of India. Being the supreme law of the country, every law enacted by the government must conform to the constitution. B. R. Ambedkar , as chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee, was the chief architect of the Indian Constitution.

The majority of the Indian subcontinent was under British colonial rule  from 1858 to 1947. This period saw the gradual rise of the Indian nationalist movement to gain independence from the foreign rule. The movement culminated in the formation of the Dominion of India on 15 August 1947, along with the Dominion of Pakistan. The constitution of India was adopted on 26 January 1950, which proclaimed India to be a sovereign democratic republic. It contained the founding principles of the law of the land which would govern India after its independence from British rule. On the day the constitution came into effect, India ceased to be a dominion of the British Crown.

Evolution of the Constitution:-

Acts of British Parliament before 1935:-

After the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British Parliament took over the reign of India from the British East India Company, and British India came under the direct rule of the Crown. The British Parliament passed the Government of India Act of 1858 to this effect, which set up the structure of British government in India. It established in England the office of the Secretary of State for India through whom the Parliament would exercise its rule, along with a Council of India to aid him. It also established the office of the Governor-General of India along with an Executive Council in India, which consisted of high officials of the British Government. The Indian Councils Act of 1861 provided for a Legislative Council consisting of the members of the Executive council and non-official members. The Indian Councils Act of 1892  established provincial legislatures and increased the powers of the Legislative Council. These acts increased the representation of Indians in the government, but it was limited in its powers. The Government of India Acts of 1909 and 1919 further expanded the participation of Indians in the government.

Government of India Act 1935:-

The provisions of the Government of India Act of 1935, though never implemented fully, had a great impact on the constitution of India. Many key features of the constitution are directly taken from this Act. The federal structure of government, provincial autonomy, bicameral legislature consisting of a federal assembly and a Council of States, separation of legislative powers between center and provinces are some of the provisions of the Act which are present in the Indian constitution.

Constituent Assembly:-

The Constitution was drafted by the Constituent Assembly, which was elected by the elected members of the provincial assemblies. Jawaharlal Nehru, C. Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and Nalini Ranjan Ghosh  were some important figures in the Assembly. There were more than 30 members of the scheduled classes. Frank Anthony represented the Anglo-Indian community, and the Parsis were represented by H. P. Modi and R. K. Sidhwa. The Chairman of the Minorities Committee was Harendra Coomar Mookerjee, a distinguished Christian who represented all Christians other than Anglo-Indians. Ari Bahadur Gururng represented the Gorkha Community. Prominent jurists like Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer, B. R. Ambedkar, Benegal Narsing Rau and K. M. Munshi, Ganesh Mavlankar were also members of the Assembly. Sarojini Naidu, Hansa Mehta, Durgabai Deshmukh and Rajkumari Amrit Kaur were important women members. The first president of the Constituent Assembly was Sachidanand Sinha later, Rajendra Prasad was elected president of the Constituent Assembly. The members of the Constituent Assembly met for the first time in the year 1946 on 9 December.

Drafting:-

In the 14 August 1947 meeting of the Assembly, a proposal for forming various committees was presented. Such committees included a Committee on Fundamental Rights, the Union Powers Committee and Union Constitution Committee. On 29 August 1947, the Drafting Committee was appointed, with Dr Ambedkar  as the Chairman along with six other members. A Draft Constitution was prepared by the committee and submitted to the Assembly on 4 November 1947.

The Assembly met, in sessions open to the public, for 166 days, spread over a period of 2 years, 11 months and 18 days before adopting the Constitution.[3] After many deliberations and some modifications, the 308 members of the Assembly signed two hand-written copies of the document (one each in Hindi and English) on 24 January 1950. Two days later, the Constitution of India became the law of all the Indian lands.

Constitution of India has undergone 108 amendments in less than 60 years since its enactment.

Structure:-

The Constitution, in its current form, consists of a preamble, 22 parts containing 448 articles, 12 schedules, 5 appendices and 94 amendments to date.  The Women's Reservation Bill, 2010, if passed by both houses of parliament and ratified by half of the states, would be 95th Amendment to the Constitution. Although it is federal in nature with strong unitary bias, in case of emergencies it takes unitary structure.

System of government:-

A democratic executive must satisfy three conditions:

1. It must be a stable executive, and
2. It must be a responsible executive.
3. It must be impartial to all religion, caste and community. Unfortunately, it has not been possible so far to devise a system which can ensure both conditions in equal degree. ..... The daily assessment of responsibility, which is not available in the American system is, it is felt, far more effective than the periodic assessment and far more necessary in a country like India. The Draft Constitution in recommending the parliamentary system of Executive has preferred more responsibility to stability.