6. Paradise of the Lawyers

6. Paradise of the Lawyers

According to the critics, the Indian Constitution is too legalistic and very complicated. They opined that the legal language and phraseology adopted in the constitution makes it a complex document. The same Sir Ivor Jennings called it a "lawyer’s paradise”.

In this context, H.K. Maheswari, a member of the Constituent Assembly, observed : "The draft tends to make people more litigious, more inclined to go to law courts, less truthful and less likely to follow the methods of truth and non-violence. If I may say so, the draft is really a lawyer’s paradise. It opens up vast avenues of litigation and will give our able and ingenious lawyers plenty of work to do”.29

Table 3.1 The Constitution of India at a Glance

Parts	Subject Matter	Articles Covered
I	The Union and its territory	1 to 4
II	Citizenship	5 to 11
III	Fundamental Rights	12 to 35
IV	Directive Principles of State Policy	36 to 51
IV-A	Fundamental Duties	51-A
V	The Union Government	52 to 151
	Chapter I - The Executive	52 to 78
	Chapter II - Parliament	79 to 122
	Chapter III - Legislative Powers of President	123
	Chapter IV - The Union Judiciary	124 to 147
	Chapter V - Comptroller and Auditor- General of India	148 to 151
VI	The State Governments	152 to 237
	Chapter I - General	152
	Chapter II - The Executive	153 to 167

Chapter III - The State Legislature 168 to 212

Chapter IV - Legislative Powers of Governor

213

Chapter V - The High Courts 214 to 232

Chapter VI - Subordinate Courts 233 to 237

VII The States in Part B of the First Schedule (deleted)

238

(deleted)

VIII The Union Territories 239 to 242

IX The Panchayats 243 to 243-

IX-A The Municipalities 243-P to 243-ZG

IX-B The Co-operative Societies 243-ZH to 243-ZT

X The Scheduled and Tribal Areas 244 to 244-

XI Relations between the Union and the States

245 to 263

Chapter I - Legislative Relations 245 to 255 Chapter II - Administrative Relations 256 to 263

XII Finance, Property, Contracts and Suits 264 to 300-

Chapter I - Finance 264 to 291

Chapter II - Borrowing 292 to 293

Chapter III - Property, Contracts, Rights, Liabilities, Obligations and Suits

294 to 300

Chapter IV - Right to Property 300-A

XIII Trade, Commerce and Intercourse within the Territory of India

301 to 307

XIV Services under the Union and the States 308 to 323 Chapter I - Services 308 to 314

Chapter II - Public Service Commissions		315 to 323
XIV-A	Tribunals	323-A to 323-B
XV	Elections	324 to 329- A
XVI	Special Provisions relating to Certain Classes	330 to 342- A
XVII	Official Language	343 to 351- A
	Chapter I - Language of the Union	343 to 344
	Chapter II - Regional Languages	345 to 347
	Chapter III-Language of the Supreme Court, High Courts, and so on	348 to 349
	Chapter IV-Special Directives	350 to 351
XVIII	Emergency Provisions	352 to 360
XIX	Miscellaneous	361 to 367
XX	Amendment of the Constitution	368
XXI	Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions	369 to 392
XXII	Short title, Commencement, Authoritative Text in Hindi and Repeals	393 to 395

Note: Part VII (dealing with Part-B states) was deleted by the 7th Amendment Act (1956). On the other hand, both Part IV-A and Part XIV-A were added by the 42nd Amendment Act (1976), while Part IX-A was added by the 74th Amendment Act (1992), and Part IX-B was added by the 97th Amendment Act (2011).

Table 3.2 Important Articles of the Constitution at a Glance

Articles	Deals with
1	Name and territory of the Union
3	Formation of new states and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing states

13	Laws inconsistent with or in derogation of the fundamental rights
14	Equality before law
16	Equality of opportunity in matters of public employment
17	Abolition of untouchability
19	Protection of certain rights regarding freedom of speech, etc.
21	Protection of life and personal liberty
21A	Right to elementary education
25	Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion
30	Right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions
31C	Saving of laws giving effect to certain directive principles
32	Remedies for enforcement of fundamental rights including writs
38	State to secure a social order for the promotion of welfare of the people
40	Organisation of village panchayats
44	Uniform civil code for the citizens
45	Provision for early childhood care and education to children below the age of 6 years.
46	Promotion of educational and economic interests of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other weaker sections
50	Separation of judiciary from executive
51	Promotion of international peace and security
51A	Fundamental duties
72	Power of president to grant pardons, etc., and to suspend, remit or commute sentences in certain

cases
74	Council of ministers to aid and advise the president
78	Duties of prime minister as respects the furnishing of information to the president, etc.
110	Definition of Money Bills
112	Annual financial statement (Budget)
123	Power of president to promulgate ordinances during recess of Parliament
143	Power of president to consult Supreme Court
155	Appointment of governor
161	Power of governor to grant pardons, etc., and to suspend, remit or commute sentences in certain cases
163	Council of ministers to aid and advise the governor
167	Duties of chief minister with regard to the furnishing of information to governor, etc.
169	Abolition or creation of legislative councils in states
200	Assent to bills by governor (including reservation for President)
213	Power of governor to promulgate ordinances during recess of the state legislature
226	Power of high courts to issue certain writs
239AA	Special provisions with respect to Delhi
249	Power of Parliament to legislate with respect to a matter in the State List in the national interest
262	Adjudication of disputes relating to waters of inter- state rivers or river valleys
263	Provisions with respect to an inter-state council
265	Taxes not to be imposed save by authority of law

275	Grants from the Union to certain states
280	Finance Commission
300	Suits and proceedings
300A	Persons not to be deprived of property save by authority of law (Right to property)
311	Dismissal, removal or reduction in rank of persons employed in civil capacities under the Union or a state.
312	All-India Services
315	Public service commissions for the Union and for the states
320	Functions of Public service commissions
323-A	Administrative tribunals
324	Superintendence, direction and control of elections to be vested in an Election Commission
330	Reservation of seats for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in the House of the People
335	Claims of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes to services and posts
352	Proclamation of Emergency (National Emergency)
356	Provisions in case of failure of constitutional machinery in states (President’s Rule)
360	Provisions as to financial emergency.
365	Effect of failure to comply with, or to give effect to, directions given by the Union (President’s Rule)
368	Power of Parliament to amend the Constitution and procedure therefor
370	Temporary provisions with respect to the state of Jammu and Kashmir 31

Table 3.3 Schedules of the Constitution at a Glance

Numbers Subject Matter Articles

Covered

First 1. Names of the States and their 1 and 4

Schedule territorial jurisdiction.

2. Names of the Union Territories and their extent.

Second Provisions relating to the 59, 65, 75, 97,

Schedule emoluments, allowances, 125, 148, 158, privileges and so on of: 164, 186 and

221

1. The President of India

2. The Governors of States

3. The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha

4. The Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha

5. The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in the states

6. The Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council in the states

7. The Judges of the Supreme Court

8. The Judges of the High Courts

9. The Comptroller and Auditor- General of India

Third Forms of Oaths or Affirmations for: 75, 84, 99, 124,

Schedule 146, 173, 188

and 219

1. The Union ministers

2. The candidates for election to the Parliament

3. The members of Parliament

	4. The judges of the Supreme Court
	5. The Comptroller and Auditor-
	General of India
	6. The state ministers
	7. The candidates for election to
	the state legislature
	8. The members of the state
	legislature
	9. The judges of the High Courts
Fourth	Allocation of seats in the Rajya	4 and 80
Schedule	Sabha to the states and the union
	territories.
Fifth	Provisions relating to the	244
Schedule	administration and control of
	scheduled areas and scheduled
	tribes.
Sixth	Provisions relating to the	244 and 275
Schedule	administration of tribal areas in the
	states of Assam, Meghalaya,
	Tripura and Mizoram.
Seventh	Division of powers between the	246
Schedule	Union and the States in terms of
	List I (Union List), List II (State List)
	and List III (Concurrent List).
	Presently, the Union List contains
	98 subjects (originally 97), the
	State List contains 59 subjects
	(originally 66) and the Concurrent
	List contains 52 subjects (originally
	47).
Eighth	Languages recognized by the	344 and 351
Schedule	Constitution. Originally, it had 14
	languages but presently there are
	22 languages. They are:

Ninth Schedule

Tenth Schedule

Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri (Dongri), Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Mathili (Maithili), Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Sindhi was added by the 21st Amendment Act of 1967; Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali were added by the 71st Amendment Act of 1992; and Bodo, Dongri, Maithili and Santhali were added by the 92nd Amendment Act of 2003. Oriya was renamed as 'Odia’ by the 96th Amendment Act of 2011.

Acts and Regulations (originally 13 but presently 282)32 of the state legislatures dealing with land reforms and abolition of the zamindari system and of the Parliament dealing with other matters. This schedule was added by the 1st Amendment (1951) to protect the laws included in it from judicial scrutiny on the ground of violation of fundamental rights.

However, in 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that the laws included in this schedule after April 24, 1973, are now open to judicial review.

Provisions relating to disqualification of the members of Parliament and State Legislatures on the ground of defection. This schedule was added by the 52nd

31-B

102 and 191

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