14. Sovereignty of Parliament

The doctrine of sovereignty of Parliament is associated with the British Parliament. Parliamentary sovereignty (also called parliamentary supremacy or legislative supremacy) is a concept in the constitutional law of some parliamentary democracies. It holds that the legislative body has absolute sovereignty, and is supreme over all other government institutions, including executive or judicial bodies. There are no ‘legal’ restrictions on the authority and jurisdiction of British Parliament. The Indian Parliament, on the other hand cannot be regarded as a sovereign body in the similar sense as there are ‘legal’ restrictions on its authority and jurisdiction. The factors that limit the sovereignty of Indian Parliament are:

i) Written Nature of the Constitution: The Constitution is the fundamental law of the land in our country. The parliament has to operate within the prescribed limits of the Constitution.

ii) Federal System of Government: India has a federal system of government with a constitutional division of powers between the Union and the States. Both have to operate within the spheres allotted to them. Hence, the law-making authority of the Parliament gets confined to the subjects enumerated in the Union List and Concurrent List and does not extend to the subjects enumerated in the State List (except in certain exceptional circumstances).

iii) System of Judicial Review: The adoption of an independent judiciary and the system of judicial review has also restricted the supremacy of the Parliament. Both the Supreme Court and the High Courts can declare the laws enacted by Parliament as void and ultra vires, if they contravene any provision of the Constitution.

iv) Fundamental Rights: The authority of Parliament is also restricted by the incorporation of a code of justiciable Fundamental Rights under Part III of the Constitution. Article 13 prohibits the State from making a law that either takes away totally or abrogates in part a fundamental right. Hence, a parliamentary law that contravenes the fundamental rights shall be void.