We all know that there are certain rights and duties of every Indian citizen. Apart from that, those individuals who belong to our nation enter a contract with the government where the law protects the right of every citizen. And courts perform the judicial review in India to maintain the check and balance of our Indian laws and regulations. Not just individuals, but courts also give verdicts on government entities or bodies if something is wrong.
Although our judicial review process has been adopted from the US constitution there are many changes when implemented in our nation. That is why we can see several constitutional amendments where the legislature makes laws. In fact, we have certain government commissions like the Central Vigilance Commission that monitor whether any corruption activity is going on or not.
As far as judicial review is concerned, it is a compilation of constitutional amendments, legislative actions and laws made by them. Many of us might be aware that there are three main pillars of our democracy: the Executive, Judiciary and Legislature.
If you are a new one who is reading these terminologies, then here we have provided a simple explanation too. Legislatures are the one who makes laws, you can say parliamentarians are the part of the legislature pillar who passes laws in our Indian parliament. Executives are the watchdog that looks after the implementation part. They check whether laws are being followed strictly or not. Now, the next one about which this article is all about is Judiciary. In the judiciary, all types of courts are there that check whether legislators and executives are performing better or not. Therefore, citizens and Indian courts abide by the laws that the Judiciary system asks us to follow.
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History: The Roots of Judicial Review
If you think that this judicial review system is a new concept or terminology, then you are wrong. It came very early into existence after the Dr Bonham Case. According to facts, Dr Bonham was one physician practising in London under the Royal College. It is because he was not having his own license at that moment. When this case went to court, they found that it was a strict violation of the Principles of Natural Justice. Thereby, Bonham was fined for practising physical practices without a licence and the fine amount was distributed among the college and himself.
Next, this term was summarized in 1803 when the Marbury V Madison case was going on. According to historians, the term of President Adam who belonged to the federalist party came to an end and Jefferson the anti-federalist started ruling. Hence, Adam, who had less time as a serving president appointed federal party members as the judges. However, Jefferson was against this decision and he stopped the state secretary, Madison, from sending an appointment letter to judges. Marbury who was one of the judges approached the Supreme court with a writ of mandamus. This is where the court refused to hear the plea and they developed the doctrine of judicial review.
If we talk about some of the salient features of the judicial review, keep reading this post.
Judicial Review of state and central laws
According to our constitution, there are certain laws made by states while the rest of them are made by the central government of India. All kinds of ordinances, constitutional amendments and other laws are subjected to the Indian Judicial review under Article 13(3) of our Indian constitution.
It is not automatically applied
There is no magic when applying for this judicial review. The apex court, Supreme Court, cannot itself apply for it. Only if there is an urgency for law changes, then only it will happen.