Context
Recently the Supreme Court highlighted the need for continuous legislative assessment by executive and judicial oversight.
About
- The case that triggered this judicial intervention was an extended-standing dispute over the redevelopment of a slum area in Borivali, Mumbai.
- SC expressed concern over the inefficacies in the implementation of the Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance, and Redevelopment) Act, and directed the leader justice of the Bombay high court to constitute a bench for a suo motu evaluation of the statute’s functioning.
Directions by SC
- The Supreme Court has underscored the crucial function that both the government and constitutional courts play in ensuring the effective functioning of legal guidelines, retaining that reviewing and assessing the implementation of a statute is an integral part of the rule of law.
- Role of Executive Branch: According to the court docket, the executive branch has a constitutional duty not only to enforce legal guidelines but also to reveal their effectiveness continuously.
- The government branch has a constitutional responsibility to make certain that the reason and object of a statute is achieved while imposing it.
- Role of Judiciary: While the judiciary historically critiques government and legislative movements, the judgment envisaged a significant position for it in nudging the gadget towards significant reforms.
- In this role, the judiciary does not evaluate govt and legislative actions but only nudges and provides impetus to systemic reforms.
- However, the bench clarified that while the judiciary can compel such audits and promote debate, it can not without delay put in force legislative reforms.
Legislative Impact Assessment
- Legislative Impact Assessment (LIA) is a scientific technique used to evaluate the capability outcomes of proposed legislation on numerous components of society and governance.
- The goal is to understand the consequences of a bill or regulation before it’s enacted, ensuring that it efficiently addresses the issue at hand while minimizing accidental effects.
India and Legislative Assessment
- In India, Parliament passes the law framework in the skeleton form and delegates the task of filling the details to executives and state legislatures as consistent with the local necessities by presenting wide guidelines.
- Mechanisms in India: In India there are few mechanisms to assess the rules, publish enactment together with status committees of parliament, financial commission, law commission, committees or bodies created for precise regulations or legislation etc.
- But there may be no institutionalized legislative impact evaluation strategy having statutory repute to assess the regulation before its enactment.
- Challenges: Lack of scrutiny of laws enacted by entrusted bodies, legal guidelines, profusion and many others.
- Sometimes those legal guidelines fail due to loss of pre-legislative rationale, effect evaluation of laws, consultation and deliberation. Thus, the final results are numerous legal guidelines with little information on their achievements.
- Laws are formulated through respective ministries with little or no coordination with different ministries leading to contradiction in implementation.
- Therefore, the need arises to institutionalize a uniform framework for assessing the effect of laws before, all through and after enactment to ensure that they meet preferred goals.
Governance Structure in India
- In India, the governance shape is divided into 3 major branches, each with wonderful roles and features:
- Executive Branch: The President of India is the ceremonial head of state. The President’s role is largely symbolic, but has critical features such as appointing the Prime Minister and giving assent to payments handed by way of Parliament.
- Head of Government: The Prime Minister of India is the actual head of presidency and sporting events executive energy. The Prime Minister leads the Council of Ministers, who are responsible for the management of numerous government departments and enforcing regulations.
- State Level: Every state has a Governor, and a Chief Minister, who’s the top of the state government and leads the Council of Ministers inside the state.
- Legislative Branch: The Parliament of India is bicameral, which includes:
- Rajya Sabha (Council of States): The upper house, representing states and union territories.
- Lok Sabha (House of the People): The lower house, whose individuals are immediately elected by using the human beings of India through preferred elections.
- State Legislature: Most states have a unicameral legislature referred to as the Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha).
- Some states also have a bicameral legislature with a Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad), which functions similarly to the Rajya Sabha at the state level.
- Judicial Branch: Supreme Court: The highest courtroom in India, with the authority to interpret the Constitution, adjudicate disputes between states and the center, and oversee the legality of legal guidelines and government movements.
- Each state or group of states has a High Court, which handles appeals from lower courts and problems associated with state-level legal topics.
- District Courts take care of civil and criminal cases on the district level, and diverse specialized courts including family courts, patron courts, and labor courts.
- Each branch operates independently but is designed to work in concord with the others, presenting a system of exams and balances to ensure honest governance and adherence to the Constitution.
Conclusion
- The Supreme Court’s intervention on this count number no longer only seeks to deal with the particular shortcomings in the implementation of the Maharashtra Slum Areas Act but also reinforces the broader precept that it’s the obligation of the government to usually investigate and adapt legal guidelines to meet their targets.
- The judiciary’s role in this context is to ascertain that these exams are completed efficiently, promoting a legal system that is both responsive and accountable.
Source: The Hindu
UPSC Mains Practice Question
Q. To what extent, in your view, there is a need for continuous legislative assessment by executive and judicial oversight in India? (150 words)