Indian Constitution

The word freebie is an informal word used to refer to things given out for free or without payment by any organization, company or a state to gain the receiver’s support or favour. Constitutional Standpoint The Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSPs) envisions a welfare state which makes basic amenities …

The Parliament Ethics Committee is a grouping in the Parliament of India that is responsible for overseeing the moral and ethical conduct of its members. It was constituted in 1997, following the Presiding Officers Conference held in New Delhi in October 1996, which desired the legislatures to explore the possibility …

Syllabus: Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies. Context The Election Commission of India (ECI) has been a focal point of differences between the government and the judiciary. This time, the clash of opinions is over its appointment. SC Judgement The Supreme Court of …

Syllabus: Constitution of India —historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.  Why in NEWS The Supreme Court on Thursday asked whether Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, is being equated with the Basic Structure of the Constitution. Interpretation A Constitution Bench headed by …

Syllabus: Indian Constitution Why in NEWS Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday said they were “hopeful of getting justice” from the Supreme Court, as it began day-to-day hearing of petitions challenging the dilution of provisions of Article 370 in 2019. Why the case …

Why in NEWS The Lok Sabha passed the Forest Conservation (Amendment) Bill on Wednesday, without any changes from the first version introduced on March 29. The contentious Bill was introduced to amend the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. Background The 1980 legislation has empowered the Centre for the past four decades, …

A UCC under a majoritarian regime is likely to be an awkward result of the crisis of Indian secularism. On June 27, in Bhopal, when Prime Minister advocated that a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) be implemented, he was seeking to accomplish the last of the three core ideological agendas that …

  Context The Supreme Court on Friday said it cannot direct the Centre to include Rajasthani as an official language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India said the subject of the petition concerns a policy matter. The Eighth Schedule It was …

Context Law Minister on Friday informed the Lok Sabha that of the 604 judges appointed since 2018 to various High Courts, 454 belong to the general category. The Minister also informed the member that judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts are appointed under Articles 124, 217 and 224 …

The Election Commission (EC) has made the process of allotting airtime to political parties for campaigning on Akashvani and Doordarshan entirely online. Instead of collecting physical vouchers for airtime, the parties will henceforth be issued digital time vouchers through an Information Technology (IT) platform. “This step reflects the commission’s commitment …

The Supreme Court has recently held that bail orders should neither be too long and elaborate nor come too late as both violate the constitutional mandate of personal liberty. Key details: The supreme court highlighted that, while rejecting or granting bail to accused persons, Judges should not slip into extensive deliberations …

The Supreme Court verdict on the Delhi government’s tussle with the Centre over the national capital’s bureaucracy draw new red lines for Constitutional offices in the face of political compulsions, and underline the sanctity of the elected government. Verdict on basic structure: In the Delhi ruling, the apex court speaks …

Assam Chief Minister has said that the state government will move to ban the practice of polygamy through “legislative action. Practice of polygamy Polygamy is the practice of having more than one married spouse — wife or husband. The issue is governed both by personal laws and the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Traditionally, polygamy (mainly the situation of …

The SC reserved its judgment on a batch of petitions challenging the third extension given to Director of Enforcement. The Directorate of Enforcement is a multi-disciplinary organization mandated with investigation of offence of money laundering and violations of foreign exchange laws. The statutory functions of the Directorate include enforcement of following Acts: The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA): It is …

Prime Minister of India alleged that the Congress was “openly advocating” Karnataka’s secession from the Indian Union, by using the phrase ‘sovereignty of Karnataka’. Sovereignty is simply the idea of having supreme authority over a defined territory. From the 17th century onwards, Western philosophers used the concept to describe the supremacy of the state over …

An investigation revealed that more than half — 16 — of India’s 30 national sports federations do not have an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), a legal requirement under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) Act, 2013. As many as 16 of the 30 national sports federations of disciplines in which India has …

A constitution or five-judge bench of the Supreme Court held that it can exercise its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to directly grant a decree of divorce to consenting parties, in cases of irretrievable breakdown of marriage, without referring the parties to a family court. Current procedure under …

The scope of reviewing the laws placed under 9th schedule is limited. After the first amendment, the major landmark case in which the question of immunity granted to parliament was presented before the court was the case of Shankari Prasad. It was asked that whether Article 31B read with schedule 9 was unconstitutional by excluding the scope of judicial …

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister wrote to Prime Minister seeking the inclusion of two amendment Bills allowing for higher quota in jobs and educational institutions, in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. The Ninth Schedule includes a list of Central and State laws which cannot be challenged in courts. In Chhattisgarh’s case, the two amendment Bills that …

When India’s Union Law Minister describes retired judges in a rather harsh manner, it is something that cannot be taken lightly. For the Minister to label retired judges who question “state policies” as being “anti-India” elements is not just a case of a flawed understanding of concepts but also a …