Before legislation becomes litigation , Pg7

Key Highlights:

• Indian Constitution prioritizes parliamentary lawmaking within constitutional limits.
• Courts are increasingly acting as parallel legislators due to flawed lawmaking processes.
• Many cases challenging central legislation are pending before the Supreme Court since 2016.
• Flawed execution in lawmaking leads to constitutional scrutiny and legal challenges.

Detailed Insights:

• The Constitution framers rejected absolute parliamentary sovereignty, ensuring laws adhere to constitutional principles.
• Challenges to legislation include constitutional scrutiny, political considerations, and drafting errors.
• The legislative process involves ministry proposals, Law Ministry approval, Cabinet consideration, and parliamentary readings.
• In practice, the legislative system suffers from inadequate notice, bypassed committees, and rushed debates.
• Section 18(d) of the Transgender Persons Act, 2019, exemplifies legislative inconsistencies needing constitutional review.
• Complex legal drafting and time pressure hinder informed participation of parliamentarians in lawmaking.
• The Attorney-General's (AG) counsel during parliamentary debates could help prevent legal inconsistencies.
• Article 88 of the Constitution grants the Attorney-General (AG) the right to participate in parliamentary proceedings.
• Seeking the AG's counsel can flag legal inconsistencies and provide non-partisan guidance to lawmakers.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Parliamentary Sovereignty: The principle that Parliament has supreme legal authority.
• Constitutional Democracy: A system where the powers of the government are limited by a constitution.
• Attorney-General (AG): The Indian government's chief legal advisor and principal advocate in the Supreme Court.