Restoration of Democratic Rights

An unforgettable contribution of the Janata Party government was the restoration of democracy and civil rights in the country.

The Janata government was prompt to take steps to reverse the draconian measures of the Emergency: media censorship was removed and several controversial executive decrees were repealed.

It repaired the Constitution from the Emergency ‘depredations’ and revived ‘open parliamentary practice through its consultative style when repairing the Constitution’ and restored the independence of the judiciary, as Granville Austin points out. Arbitrary powers of the executive were curbed and the power of an independent judiciary restored. Under the supervision of the law minister, Shanti Bhushan, amendments were devised to nullify the democracy- throttling steps of the Forty-second Amendment. The Forty- third and Forty-fourth Amendments to the Constitutions were

landmarks in India’s political history.

The Forty-third Amendment passed in 1977 deleted Article 3ID which gave powers to Parliament to curtail even legitimate trade union activity under the guise of preventing anti-national activities. Ratified by more than half the states as required the amendment gave back to the states the legislative powers to make appropriate provision for anti- national activities consistent with the Fundamental Rights. The power of the judiciary to invalidate laws was restored. The high courts were given the power of going into the question of constitutional validity of central laws, thus making it possible for persons living in distant places to seek justice without having to come all the way to the Supreme Court.

The Forty-fourth Amendment of 1978 made the promulgation of Emergency more difficult than it was. It would now require the ‘written advice’ of the cabinet and not the prime minister alone before the president could proclaim Emergency. The proclamation would have to be approved within one month of the reassembly of Parliament, and that too by a two-thirds majority; its renewal would need a parliamentary vote on it every six months. Furthermore, the term ‘internal disturbances’ was replaced with ‘armed rebellion’ as a cause for imposing emergency. A special session of the Lok Sabha could be called one-tenth of its members requesting the president for the purpose of revoking the emergency;

such a revocation could be achieved by simple majority. It was also asserted that Article 20 and Article 21 would never be suspended even during emergency, while other fundamental rights would not get suspended automatically but would require a separate order by president. All important, the emergency provisions could be challenged in courts

The amendment restored the term of the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies to the original term of five years. The courts also got back the power to decide the election disputes of the president, prime minister, speaker, etc.

The president would now be allowed to return the advice tendered by the cabinet once for a review.

The amendment deleted Article 31, the Right to Property from the list of Fundamental Rights to become just a legal right.