"Since the day the Constitution of India came into force, Judicial Activism has existed in different forms under the Constitution. Judicial Activism initiated by the higher judiciary in India has started serious debates on the Court’s undefined power to place substantive as well as procedural limits on the executive as well as the legislature. The Court’s new role to make law and give directions has been criticised as the usurpation of powers that belong to the other two organs. The Court has been defending its new role to uphold the constitutional values of protecting the human rights of the people thereby upholding the principle of Rule of Law. Through this book, Dr. Deka Swapna Manindranath analyses the legitimacy of Judicial Activism in India as well as the intrusions made by the judiciary in the name of Judicial Activism. The author argues that Judicial Activism under the Constitution has been inevitable in view of the socio-economic and political conditions of the nation as well as due to the laxity of performance on the part of the other two organs. This book will be of interest to the research scholars and students of Indian Constitutional law and Political Science, judges, lawyers and general readers interested in knowing about the phenomenon of Judicial Activism in India."

This Book Is An Examination Of Judicial Review And Its Role In Democracy, With Special Reference To India.

The basic strucure doctrine articulated by the Indian Supreme Court in 1973 made it amply clear that the basic features of the Constitution must remain inviolable. The doctrine has generatd serious debates ever since as it placed substantive and procedural limits on the amending powers of the Execuive. Despite the lack of clarity as to its nature, the scope of the doctrine has been broadened in recent years, and a wide range of state actions are covered in its purview. In this book, Krishnaswamy analyses its legitimacy in legal, moral and sociological terms, and argues that the doctrine has emerged from a valid interpretation of the constituitional provisions. This book will be of interest to scholars of Indian Constitutional law, political theory and jurisprudence as well as judges and legal practitioners.

This book offers an innovative approach to studying ‘judicial activism’ in the Indian context in tracing its history and relevance since 1773. While discussing the varying roles of the judiciary, it delineates the boundaries of different organs of the State — judiciary, executive and legislature — and highlights the points where these boundaries have been breached, especially through judicial interventions in parliamentary affairs and their role in governance and policy. Including a fascinating range of sources such as legal cases, books, newspapers, periodicals, lectures, historical texts and records, the author presents the complex sides of the arguments persuasively, and contributes to new ways of understanding the functioning of the judiciary in India. This paperback edition, with a new Afterword, updates the debates around the raging questions facing the Indian judiciary. It will be of great interest to students and scholars of law, political science and history, as well as legal practitioners and the general reader.

Few will deny that the post-emergency higher judiciary in India has earned widespread public acclaim for its innovative and creative jurisprudence notwithstanding the argument advanced by some critics that it has exercised excessive jurisdiction, transgressing at times the executive and legislative domains, contrary to the original 'checks and balances' design of the Constitution. While the issue of judicial restraint in the context of constitutional separation of powers deserves serious attention, the fact of the matter is that juristocracy invariably triumphs when the elected representatives in a democracy cannot be trusted to provide good and lawful governance. From this perspective, the unprecedented judicialisation of politics and the growth of judicial activism in India seems to be an organic response to pressures within the political system itself. The contributors to the volume are well-known scholars, lawyers, and academics. They reflect on the itinerary of higher judiciary and its contributions to constitutional law and public good contextualised for the developmental path of the political system since the commencement of the Republic in 1950. The papers cover a variety of topics -- judicial activism, judiciary and ecology, secularism, parliamentary institutions, central executive, new economy, and judicial reforms -- that focus primarily, though not exclusively, on the ramifications of judicial activism for Indian politics.