JUDICIAL REVIEW

 

Judicial Review : Key Tool of Constitutional Protection

Judicial review is the power of the judiciary to review whether certain laws, executive acts, or amendments to the Constitution are constitutionally valid. It is the only mechanism through which the Supreme Court and High Courts of India ensure that all organs of the state function within the constraints laid out by the Constitution. However, the judiciary, as such, has not been specifically mentioned in the Constitution, though the basic principles and provisions can be found in some parts of the Constitution. In this way, then, judicial review ensures the safeguard against legislative and executive overreaching. At the same time, it will continue to be a fact that the Constitution will remain the supreme law of the land.

Indian Constitution offers a rather wide judicial review covering almost all aspects of governance, including laws made by the legislature, executive orders, and constitutional amendments. Such a judicial review applies to ordinary laws to ensure they are not unconstitutional in the way they may infringe upon rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Similarly, the Court may review actions of the executive to check whether they fall within the limits of legality or run against constitutional rights. The one very important feature of judicial review that grants the power to review constitutional amendments to the judiciary, thus keeping the integrity of the Constitution, is potentially challenging for the courts to implement.

The most fundamental landmark case defining the doctrine of judicial review was Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973). It was for the Supreme Court of India to evolve the Basic Structure Doctrine under which it held that although the Parliament has been vested with the amendment power under Article 368, yet the same cannot be exercised so as to amend the Constitution so as to affect the basic structure. This had become a landmark case in Indian constitutional law in the sense that it could put a curb on the power of Parliament, such that no amendment could destroy the very foundations of the Constitution.
The above cases show the importance of judicial review with regard to the protection of the constitution. In this context, the role of the judiciary to ensure that laws, executive actions, and even amendments do not violate the fundamental principles of the Constitution can maintain the supremacy of the Constitution as well as ensure the basic rights of citizens. As such, without such power, the judiciary would fail to function as the watchdog of the Constitution, and the checks and balances which sustain Indian democracy could be upset. Judicial review, therefore, remains an integral part of the Indian constitution assuring the democratic values in that country. No organ of government may overstep its bounds.