Academic year: 2022-23

Even Semester Semester :2nd

Subject Name : Constitution of India
Subject Code : BICOK207
Topics:-
Parliament - LS and RS,
Parliamentary Committees,
Important Parliamentary Terminologies.
Judicial System of India, Supreme Court of India and other Courts,
Judicial Reviews and Judicial Activism.
1.Parliament - LS and RS,
Parliament is Legislature of the Union, consists of the President and two Houses, known as
Rajya Sabha Council of States and Lok Sabha House of the People
The Parliament has a sanctioned strength of 543 in the Lok Sabha and 245 in the Rajya
Sabha including 12 nominees from the expertise of different fields of literature, art, science,
and social service. The Parliament meets at Sansad Bhavan in New Delhi
The main function of both the Houses is to make laws. Every Bill has to be passed by both
the Houses and assented to by the President before it becomes law. The subjects over
which Parliament can legislate are the subjects mentioned under the Union List in the
Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India.
Term-The term of the Lok Sabha, unless dissolved, is five years from the date appointed for
its first meeting.
Zero Hour is the time when Members of Parliament (MPs) can raise Issues of Urgent Public
Importance. For raising matters during the Zero Hour, MPs must give the notice before 10
am to the Speaker/ Chairman on the day of the sitting. The notice must state the subject
they wish to raise in the House.
Article 79 describes the Constitution of Parliament. It says that there shall be a Parliament
for the Union, which shall consist of the President and two Houses, to be known respectively
as the Council of States and the House of the People.
The 42nd Amendment Act-Most important Amendment in Indian constitution.

The Constitution Act, 1976 is termed as one of the most controversial acts in
the history of amendments to the Indian Constitution. It amended/
introduced various provisions given below:
 • Attempted to reduce the power of the Supreme Court and the High
Courts
• Laid down Fundamental Duties for citizens.
• Terms- Socialist, Secular and Integrity added to the Preamble

Parliamentary Committees

A Parliamentary Committee is a panel of MPs that is appointed or elected by the

House or nominated by the Speaker/Chairman. The committee works under the
direction of the Speaker/chairman and it presents its report to the House or to the
Speaker/chairman.

Role of the Parliamentary committee

Due to the sheer volume of information and scale of operations that the Indian
Parliament is required to undertake, it is not feasible to take up all issues on the floor
of the House. Thus, Parliamentary committees are constituted to delve deeper into
matters of public concern and develop expert opinion
Types of commiittees.
There are five different types of committees—
1.standing committees,
2.subcommittees,
3.select committees,
4.joint committees,
5.and the Committee of the Whole.

Important Parliamentary Terminologies

The Parliamentary terminology includes Session, Adjournment, Adjournment sine
die, Prorogue, Quorum, Question Hour, Zero Hour, Adjournment Motion, Calling
Attention Motion, No Confidence Motion, etc.

The major parliamentary terms used in Indian parliament are as

follows:-
(i) Quorum:

It is the minimum number of members whose presence is essential to transact the

business of the House.
(ii) Question-Hour:

The day’s business usually starts with the question-hour during which questions are

asked by the members and the answers are provided by the concerned Minister.

(iii) Zero Hour:

This period follows the question hour and generally begins at noon. Usually the time

is used by members to raise various issues for discussion.

(iv) Starred Question:

It is one for which an oral answer is required to be given by the Minister on the floor

of the House. Supplementary questions may be asked based on the Minister’s reply.

The Speaker decides if a question should be answered orally or otherwise. One

member can ask only one starred question in a day.

(v) Un-starred Question:

It is one for which the Minister lays on the table a written answer. A 10- day notice

has to be given to ask such questions and no supplementary questions can be asked

with regard to such questions.

(vi) Short Notice Questions:

It can be asked by members on matters of public importance of an urgent nature. It

is for the Speaker to decide whether the matter is of urgent nature or not. The

member has also to state reasons for asking the questions while serving notice.

(vii) Point of Order:

A member may raise a point of order if the proceedings of the House do not follow

the normal rules. The Presiding officer decides whether the point of order raised by

the members should be allowed.

(viii) Vote on Account:

AS there is usually a gap between the presentation of the budget and its approval, the

vote on account enables the government to draw some amount from the
Consolidated Fund of India to meet the expenses in the intervening period.
(ix) Guillotine:

The act of putting all the demands for grant to vote, without discussion on the last

day earmarked for the discussion of the budget is called guillotine.

(x) Lame-duck Session:

This session is held when a new Parliament has been elected but the old Parliament

meets for the last time before it is dissolved. The lame-ducks are the members of the

Parliament who have not got re-elected.

Judicial System of India, Supreme Court of India and other Courts

The Indian judicial system follows the common law system based on recorded judicial

precedents as inherited from the British colonial legacy. The court system of India

comprises the Supreme Court of India, the High Courts and subordinate courts at

district, municipal and village levels.

Supreme Court: It is the Apex court of the country and was constituted on 28th
January 1950. It is the highest court of appeal and enjoys both original suits and
appeals of High Court judgments. The Supreme Court is comprised of the Chief
Justice of India and 25 other judges. Articles 124-147 of the Constitution of India lay
down the authority of the Supreme Court.

2. High Courts: High Courts are the highest judicial body at the State level. Article
214 lays down the authority of High Courts. There are 25 High Courts in India. High
Courts exercise civil or criminal jurisdiction only if the subordinate courts in the State
are not competent to try the matters. High Courts may even take appeals from lower
courts. High Court judges are appointed by the President of India upon consultation
with the Chief Justice of India, the Chief Justice of the High Court and the Governor
of the State.

3. District Courts: District Courts are established by the State Governments of India
for every district or group of districts based on the caseload and population density.
District Courts are under the direct administration of High Courts and are bound by
High Court judgments. Every district generally has two kinds of courts:

a. Civil Courts

b. Criminal Courts
District Courts are presided over by District Judges. Additional District Judges and
Assistant District Judges may be appointed based on the caseload. Appeals against
District Court judgments lie in the High Court.

4. Lok Adalat/Village Courts: these are subordinate courts at the village level which
provide a system for alternate dispute resolution in villages.

5. Tribunals: the Constitution provides the government with the power to set up
special Tribunals for the administration of specific matters such as tax cases, land
cases, consumer cases etc.

Appellate jurisdiction refers to the authority of a court to rehear/review a case

decided by a lower court. In India, appellate jurisdiction is vested in both the Supreme
Court and High Courts. They may either overrule or uphold the judgments of lower
courts.

Judicial Reviews and Judicial Activism

1.judicial review, power of the courts of a country to examine the actions of the legislative,
executive, and administrative arms of the government and to determine whether such
actions are consistent with the constitution. Actions judged inconsistent are declared
unconstitutional and, therefore, null and void

2.J udicial Activism in India means that the Supreme Court and the High Courts have the
power to rule those laws that contradict or are incompatible with one or more constitutional
provisions that are unconstitutional and invalid. The inferior courts lack access to this
function udicial activism is the exercise of the power of judicial review to set aside
government acts. Generally, the phrase is used to identify undesirable exercises of that
power, but there is little agreement on which instances are undesirable.

In India, the doctrine of judicial activism was introduced in the mid-1970s. Justice V R
Krishna Iyer, Justice P N Bhagwati, Justice O Chinnappa Reddy and Justice D A Desai laid
the foundations of judicial activism in the country.