3. A Democratic Republic

India is a democratic republic. It means that sovereignty rests with the people of India. They govern themselves through their representatives, elected on the basis of universal adult franchise. The President of India, the highest official of the state is elected for a fixed term. Although, India is a sovereign republic, yet it continues to be a member of the Commonwealth of Nations with the British Monarch as its head. Her membership of the Commonwealth does not compromise her position as a sovereign republic. The commonwealth is an association of free and independent nations. The British Monarch is only a symbolic head of that association.

Concept of Parliamentary Sovereignty

Parliamentary Sovereignty: It is also known as parliamentary supremacy or legislative supremacy. It makes Parliament the supreme legal authority, which can create or end any law. Also, the judiciary cannot overrule legislation and no Parliament can pass laws that future parliaments cannot change.

Parliamentary sovereignty stands at odds with:

♤ The doctrine of constitutional supremacy,

♤ The doctrine of separation of powers (limits the legislature's scope, often to general law-making),

♤ The doctrine of judicial review (laws passed by the legislature may be declared invalid in certain circumstances).

Parliamentary sovereignty is a principle of the UK Constitution. It makes Parliament the supreme legal authority in the UK.

Is the Indian Parliament sovereign?

The sovereign status of Indian Parliament is not absolute as in case of UK, because it is subject to the provisions of the Constitution. That is to say, the Indian Parliament derives its authority and power from the Constitution itself.

It has pre-defined limitations as defined below:

1. The Parliament can enact laws with respect to only those matters, which are enumerated either in the Union list or the Concurrent list.

2. The laws made by Parliament are also subject to the power of judicial review of the Supreme Court. That means that if a law made by Parliament goes against the provisions of the Constitution, it can be declared null and void by the concerned court.

Thus, in India, the principle of supremacy of the Constitution has been adopted as against the principle of supremacy of Parliament in UK.