Consequences of Strict Amendment to Statutes

The Constitution is the supreme law of the land.

-  Sarvesh Kumar Shahi, Assistant Professor (Law), Shri Ramswaroop Memorial University, Lucknow

The nature of the Constitution is neither too rigid nor too flexible, but still, it has been amended from time to time as per the need of societal changes. It is a pious document of “We the People of India” which dialogs about the limitations of exercise of powers of government functionaries i.e. Executive, Legislature and Judiciary and also, discusses division of powers among the Union and States, which ultimately seeks aspirations to guarantee it the federal nature of the Constitution. But, this ‘federalism’ is currently not seen to be in existence due to the changing dynamics of stricter amendment of laws in India.

It is well known that the Parliament plays a major role in framing the statutes and amending it from time to time according to the changing needs of the society. The ultimate aim behind amendment of laws has been to provide justice to the needy and deserving applicants coming to the forums as per the law.

Recently, the Parliament has made several changes in significant statutes and resultantly, much hue and cry was created inside the Parliament over new amendments. Here, in this segment of discussion, it is pertinent to critically analyze the Government’s intention behind amending the significant statutes like Right to Information Act, 2005; The Protection of Human Rights Act, 2003; National Investigation Agency Act, 2008 and The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967.