THE PRIEST

The Government today notified the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014 and the Constitution (Ninety-ninth Amendment) Act, 2014 for bringing in a change in the existing system for appointment of Judges in Supreme Court and High Courts. Two Bills titled 'The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty First Amendment) Bill, 2014' and 'The National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, 2014' were passed unanimously by the Lok Sabha on 13.08.2014 and Rajya Sabha on 14.08.2014 respectively. Subsequently these Bills were ratified by the required number of State legislatures before getting the President’s assent. The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty First Amendment) Bill, 2014 enacted as the Constitution (Ninety Ninth Amendment) Act and the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014 were published in Gazette of India on 31st December 2014. Both the Acts were to come into force on such date as the Central Government would notify them in the Official ...

The Constitution (Fifty-second Amendment) Act, 1985 popularly known as the anti-defection law came into force w.e.f. 1 March 1985. It amended articles 101, 102, 190 and 191 of the Constitution regarding vacation of seats and disqualification from membership of Parliament and the State Legislatures and added a new schedule i.e. the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution setting out certain provisions as to disqualification on ground of defection. Articles 102 (2) and 191 (2) read as follows “(2) a person shall be disqualified for being a member of either House of Parliament if he is sodisqualified under the Tenth Schedule.” The main provisions of Tenth Schedule are as follow : The grounds on which disqualification can be incurred are as under: (i) Members belonging to political parties A member of a House belonging to any political party shall be disqualified for being a member of House— (a) if he has voluntarily given up his membership of such political party; or (b) if he votes or ab...

Article 370 which is in news now a days provides special autonomous status to the state of Jammu & Kashmir. It restricts the power of Indian Parliament to make laws for people who reside in J&K as this article specifies that except for Defense, Foreign Affairs, Communications and ancillary matters (matters specified in the instrument of accession) the Indian Parliament needs the State Government's concurrence for applying all other laws. In effect the state's residents have a separate set of laws compared to other parts of the country, including laws related to citizenship, ownership of property, and fundamental rights, as compared to other Indians. As a consequence of this provision, Indian citizens from other states cannot purchase land or property in Jammu & Kashmir. Under Article 370, the Centre has no power to declare financial emergency provided under Article 360 in the state. Centre can declare emergency in J&K only in case of war or external aggressi...