Report No. 95
Chapter 2
The Questionnaire and Replies Thereto
2.1. The Questionnaire.-
The Questionnaire that had been issued by the Law Commission1 elicited views, inter alia, on the question whether there should be created a Constitutional Court to decide constitutional questions. The replies to the questionnair.- the majority of the.- do not favour the creation of a Constitutional Court. However, a large number of them have favoured the creation of a Constitutional Division within the Supreme Court, or have made suggestions which substantially run on analogous lines. Replies to any questionnaire naturally do not spell out the details of the points made in the replies. But a shade of opinion does lend its broad support to the creation of a division to be entrusted exclusively with the determination of constitutional controversies, that reach the Supreme Court.1
Having regard to the opposition expressed strongly in certain quarters to the idea of creating a separate Court for dealing with constitutional issues, that idea has not been pursued in this Report. Also, the Commission is aware that any such proposal would involve structural changes of a more extensive and complex character than those that would be necessitated by a proposal for creating, within the Supreme Court as structured at present, separate divisions for dealing with Constitutional and non-Constitutional matters. In fact that a noticeable shade of opinion received in response to the questionnaire favours the idea of having such divisions is a consideration that weighed with the Commission in exploring the feasibility of creating such divisions (instead of creating a separate Court), and of examining the pros and cons of the matter.
1. Para. 1.7, supra.
2. For a list of those who have favoured the creation of such a division, see para. 2.2, infra.
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