09 Dec
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03-10-2023
Answer :
Constitutionalism means that a government shall be bound by limitations, checks, controls and rules. The Supreme Court of India, in the IR Coelho case, held that Constitutionalism is a legal principle that mandates control over the exercise of governmental power to ensure that the democratic principles on which the government is formed shall not be destroyed. It incorporates the principle of ‘rule of law’, as against arbitrary and authoritarian discharge of power. It requires the existence of ‘limited government’ i.e. what the government can and cannot do. Any country that has a democratic governmental system is an example of a limited government.
The various ways in which the Indian Constitution ensures that the spirit of constitutionalism in India is maintained, are as follows:
• Written Constitution: The written nature of the Constitution acts as a limitation on the powers of the government and ensures that it acts as per the authority of the Constitution.
• Responsible government: The parliamentary form of democracy provided in the Constitution makes the government accountable for its day-to-day activity.
• Rule of law: The Constitution of India provides for all citizens to be governed by the same set of law administered through the same system of courts and that no one is above the law, thus ensuring that the state does not act arbitrarily.
• Fundamental rights: Part III of the Constitution provides that the state cannot abridge any fundamental right arbitrarily and must conform to the norms laid by the Constitution itself. Thus, this part acts as a limitation on the powers of the government and the Parliament.
• Separation of powers and checks and balances: Indian Constitution while following separation of powers ensures that there exist checks and balances to undo/prevent any unconstitutional act by the state which include but is not limited to various tools like judicial review, bicameral legislature, rigid process of constitutional amendment for some provisions etc.
• Independent judiciary and judicial review: Judiciary has been assigned the role of final interpreter of the Constitution. As such, it has the power of declaring any act of the other two organs of the government as unconstitutional by way of judicial review. Our Constitution has ensured that the Judiciary remains independent from any undue influence of other two organs of the state so as to act as an impartial arbitrator in legal disputes.
• Flexibility of Constitution and its basic structure: The Indian Constitution while allowing some provisions to be amended easily also contains some provisions, which cannot be amended at all. These provisions are known as ‘Basic Structure’, which acts as a limitation on the constituent powers of the Parliament.
- A federal form of government: Federal form of government as provided in the Constitution derives its power directly from the Constitution and is supreme in its own sphere except in certain cases. This ensures that the various levels of the Government have to work in a cooperative spirit to successfully discharge their duties.
Thus, Constitutionalism is at the core of a democratic government and the Indian Constitution contains various principles which have over the time ensured that ‘Constitutionalism’ is followed in the working of the state.