'Laws put after '73 open to challenge'

http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=79468
SC On 9th Schedule - 'Laws put after '73 open to
challenge'

New Delhi, January 11: Defining the range for the
Ninth Schedule of the Constitution on Thursday, the
apex court ruled that all cases put in this ambit
after 1973 are open to judicial scrutiny.

According to the 9-judge Constitutional bench, all
laws placed under Ninth Schedule after April 24, 1973
shall be open to challenge in court if it violated
fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 14, 19, 20
and 21 of the Constitution.

If the law put in the Ninth Schedule abridges or
abrogates fundamental rights resulting into violation
of the basic structure of the Constitution, such laws
have to be invalidated, Supreme Court says.

The nine-judge constitution Bench headed by Chief
Justice Y K Sabharwal was unanimous on the verdict.

The Ninth Schedule, till now, gave powers to the
Parliament to put laws into it that the court could
not scrutinise or overturn.

SC’s verdict is seen as an important ruling as the
case has already seen a big confrontation between the
Supreme Court and Parliament.

Parliament, henceforth, would not be allowed to insert
laws struck down or declared invalid or
unconstitutional by the apex court in the Ninth
Schedule.

The Ninth Schedule was created by an amendment in 1951
by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to push land
reforms.

Initially, there were only 13 laws in the Ninth
Schedule, but now there are around 284 laws in it,
including the controversial 69 per cent reservation
law of Tamil Nadu, which violates the apex court's 50
per cent ceiling on quotas.

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