Report No. 95
3.12. Position in India.-
The Supreme Court of India, for historical reasons, came to be vested with a variety of jurisdictions. In the initial few years, attention was not focussed upon the importance of its role of constitutional adjudication. No doubt, there were many constitutional landmarks, a few causes celebres and some pronouncements that laid the foundations of important doctrines of constitutional law. But these came and went as meteors in the sky. They did not mark out the role of the Supreme Court as a constitutional tribunal.
Constitutional controversies, floating on the stream of judicial business along with other disputes, did not stand out in the public eye or in the thinking of the profession; they were regarded as merely one species of the manifold jurisdiction of the Court. The picture is different now. Constitutional jurisprudence is being built up gradually. Now that constitutional adjudication has taken firm roots in India (according to some persons, it even overshadows ordinary litigation), it is appropriate to take stock of the situation and to spare some time for considering its special demands.
Back
