On January 12, the Supreme Court stayed the implementation of the three new farm laws despite strong opposition from the government’s law...
On January 12, the Supreme Court stayed the implementation of the three new farm laws despite strong opposition from the government’s lawyer, Attorney General KK Venugopal.
He argued that there was no reason to grant a stay because there was a presumption of constitutionality operating in favour of the legislations. This would mean that at an interim or preliminary stage, the Supreme Court should have examined why a stay is necessary on a legislation that is deemed to be legally valid under the Constitution until proven otherwise. However, the Supreme Court declined to provide any response to this concern.
The stay has been met with further criticism on the grounds that the Supreme Court acted in excess of its constitutionally endowed function. Undoubtedly, the Supreme Court possesses the power to stay executive action under Article 32 of the Constitution, or on the pretext of doing “complete justice” under Article 142.
However, the exercise of jurisdiction under these provisions must be justified by the court. There are two ways in which the Supreme Court could have justified a stay on the farm laws. First, if the laws were in violation of the farmers’ fundamental rights. Second, if there was illegality in the passage of the laws or a lack of legislative competence – for...
