Report No. 95
2.6. Constitutional Council if feasible in India.-
In reply to our Questionnaire, there has been a suggestion for the creation of a Constitutional Council, as in France. A retired Judge of the Calcutta High Court has made this suggestion.1 However, on a careful consideration, this does not appear to be an idea that can be appropriately included in the Indian Constitution. The composition and functions of the French Constitutional Council,2 as envisaged in the French Constitution, and its manner of operation, would hardly harmonies with the total constitutional pattern in India.
France had to create this Council because the French Constitution does not contemplate the determination of constitutional questions either by the hierarchy of ordinary courts culminating in the cour de Cassation, or by the hierarchy of administrative courts culminating in the Conseil de Etat. The position in India is not analogous in this regard. Moreover, the range, depth and variety of constitutional matters3, that have arisen so far in Indi.- and may be expected to arise in futur.- under the Constitution, would be far beyond the type of body represented by the French Constitutional Council.
1. Law Commission Collection, p. 1/107.
2. See paras. 5.3 to 5.6 and 6.2, infra.
3. See para. 2.7, infra.
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