Land bill re-ordinance challenged, SC hearing on Monday

In a democratic process, people cannot be governed by laws made by the executive, says farmers petition

GN Bureau | April 10, 2015


#SC   #supreme court   #land acquisition bill   #executive   #ordinance   #Lok Sabha   #Rajya Sabha  

On Monday the supreme court bench of Chief Justice HL Dattu and Justice Arun Mishra will hear a plea of a group of farmers' organisations challenging the legality of the fresh promulgation of the land acquisition ordinance. The farmers have challenged the re-promulgated land ordinance, terming it unconstitutional and ultra vires of the Constitution and as a "colourful exercise of power by the executive usurping law-making powers of the legislature".

The petition was filed by Bharatiya Kisaan Union, Gram Sewa Samiti, Delhi Grameen Samaj and Chogama Vikas Avam, seeking a direction to restrain the government from acting upon in furtherance of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015.

The farmers' bodies said the government's action in promulgating successive ordinances bypassing the legislative process of parliament was not only arbitrary and violative of Article 14 but also a fraud on the Constitution itself. They said the government's action in re-promulgating the ordinance was malafide and thus open to challenge.

The petition said that in a democratic process, people cannot be governed by laws made by the executive.

The plea contented that the government has abandoned all principles of Constitutional morality by re-promulgating the ordinances. "The discretionary power of the president to promulgate ordinances has to be exercised judiciously and within the strict paradigm of circumstances, circumscribing the exercise of such discretion under Article 123," it said. "The law-making function under the Constitution was vested in Parliament," it said.

The petitioners said that the deliberate proroguing of the Rajya Sabha on March 28, while it was in budget session only for the oblique and malafide purpose of re-promulgating the impugned ordinance, goes against the very spirit and raison de'etre underlying Article 123 of the Constitution.

"The government deliberately did not move the 2015 bill for discussion in the Rajya Sabha after its passage in the Lok Sabha between March 10 and 20 due to lack of its numbers, political will or consensus."

"Life and liberty of citizens cannot be regulated by ordinances and the executive cannot indirectly arrogate to itself the law making function of the Legislature," it said. "The ordinance making power under Article 123 was never meant to be a substitute to overcome lack of numbers of the executive in one house," the petition said.

Comments

 

Other News

Climate actions being implemented to deal with impact of heat waves

India’s climate actions cut across various sectors and are being implemented through various programs and schemes of different union ministries, departments and state/ union territory governments.  The government of India through concerned ministries and departments organises workshops, exhibiti

Banks must hear borrowers before declaring their accounts as frauds: SC

In a judgment with far-reaching implications, the Supreme Court has held that the civil consequences of an account being declared as fraud under the Reserve Bank of India (Frauds Classification and Reporting by Commercial Banks and Select FIs) Directions, 2016 or its Master Directions on Fraud amount to ci

India’s forest cover increases by 5,516 sq km in four years

The Dehradun-based Forest Survey of India (FSI), an organization under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, carries out the assessment of forest cover biennially since 1987 and the findings are published in the India State of Forest Report (ISFR). As per the latest ISFR 2021, there is a

Steps taken to meet higher power demand of April-May

While the average growth of energy requirement in the country for 2023-24 viz-a-viz 2022-23 has been estimated as 4.9%, the months of April and May have been projected as high demand period. During the current year, the peak demand is expected to be around 229 GW during the summer period. The government ha

Millets to make comeback in army ration after half a century

As the UN has declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets, the Indian Army has steered introduction of millets flour in the rations of soldiers. This landmark decision will ensure troops are supplied with native and traditional grains after over half a century, when these were discontinued in favour

Central Bank Digital Currency has game-changing potential

When discussing digital currency, you might think of one or two well-known varieties. There is the digital representation of currency that you access with mobile and online banking services. This currency is the liability of a commercial bank. There is also cryptocurrency, a digital medium of exchange issu

Visionary Talk: Amitabh Gupta, Pune Police Commissioner with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now


Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook    Twitter    Google Plus    Linkedin    Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter