Preface
Acknowledgement
About the Author
Learning Tools
1 Constitution of India: Historical Underpinnings and Features
1.1 Background
1.2 Issues Between the English Parliamentarians and the Company’s Officials
1.3 Opportunity of Control
1.4 Administrative and Legislative Reforms Before 1857
1.5 Administrative and Legislative Reforms Post-1857
2 Making of the Constitution
2.1 August Offer, 1940
2.2 Cripps Mission, 1942
2.3 Simla Conference
2.4 Cabinet Delegation, 1946
2.5 Mountbatten Plan, 3rd June 1947
2.6 The Constituent Assembly: Passing of the Constitution
3 Philosophy of the Constitution: The Preamble
3.1 The Preamble
3.2 Ingredients of the Preamble
3.3 Decoding the Preamble
3.4 Importance, Enforceability, and Amendment
4 Outstanding Features of the Constitution
4.1 Multiple Sources
4.2 Lengthiest-Known Constitution
4.3 Flexible and Organic in Nature
4.4 Written Constitution with Parliamentary Sovereignty
4.5 Scope for Conventions
4.6 Fundamental Rights with Constitutional Remedies
4.7 Judicial Review
4.8 Fundamental Rights Subjected to Regulation by the Legislature
4.9 Social and Political Equality without Communal Representation
4.10 Parliamentary Government with an Elected President as the
Executive Head
4.11 A Federal System with Unitary Bias
4.12 Integration of Indian States in the Constitutional Framework
5 Nature of the Federal System
5.1 Types of Federal Constitutions in the World
5.2 Characteristics of a Federal Polity
5.3 Characteristics of Indian Federal Polity
5.4 Conclusion
6 Territory of the Union
6.1 Name and Territory of the Union: Article 1
6.2 Admission or Establishment of New States: Article 2
6.3 Mode of Formation/Reorganisation of States: Article 3
6.4 Cession of Indian Territory: Land Boundary Agreement with
Bangladesh and the Constitution (100th Amendment) Act
6.5 Reorganisation/Creation of States and UTs after 1956
7 Citizenship
7.1 Definition
7.2 Constitutional Privileges and Rights of Citizens of India
7.3 Constitutional Basis of Citizenship
7.4 Acquisition of Citizenship After January 26, 1950: The Citizenship Act, 1955
7.5 Loss of Indian Citizenship
7.6 Important Amendments to the Citizenship Act
7.7 Overseas Citizenship: Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder
7.8 Some Important Judgements Related to Citizenship
8 Fundamental Rights and Fundamental Duties
8.1 What are Fundamental Rights?
8.2 Classification of Fundamental Rights
8.3 Fundamental Rights: Characteristics
8.4 A Comparison with the UK and USA
8.5 Fundamental Rights in Detail
8.6 Other Provisions for the Enforcement of Fundamental Rights
8.7 Limitations upon Fundamental Rights
8.8 Article 51A: Fundamental Duties
9 Directive Principles of State Policy
9.1 What are Directive Principles of State Policy?
9.2 Classification of the Directive Principles
9.3 Features of the Directive Principles
9.4 Amendments to the Directive Principles
9.5 Utility of Directives
9.6 Implementation of Directive Principles
9.7 Other Non-Justiciable Rights
10 Amendment of the Constitution
10.1 Procedure for Amending the Constitution
10.2 Amendability of the Constitution
10.3 A List of Basic Features of the Constitution
10.4 Some Important Amendments
10.5 Final Locus Standi as per Judicial Pronouncements w.r.t. Article 368
11 The Union Executive
11.1 The President
11.2 The Vice-President
11.3 Disputes Related to the Election of a President/Vice-President
[Article 71]
11.4 The Council of Ministers
11.5 A Comparison Between the Presidential and Parliamentary
Government
11.6 The Attorney-General for India
11.7 The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG)
12 The Union Legislature
12.1 Composition of Parliament
12.2 Duration of Houses of Parliament [Article 83]
12.3 Sessions of the Parliament
12.4 Officers of Parliament
12.5 Rajya Sabha vis a vis Lok Sabha
12.6 Privileges and Immunities of the Parliament and its Members
[Article 105, Rules of the House, and Conventions]
12.7 Legislative Procedure for Bills
12.8 Revenues of the Union
12.9 Annual Financial Statement – The Budget [Articles 112–114]
12.10 Supplementary/Excess Grants [Article 115]
12.11 Votes of Credit and Exceptional Grants
12.12 Parliamentary Committees
12.13 Parliamentary Procedure and Devices of Accountability
13 The State Executive
13.1 The Governor
13.2 The Council of Ministers
13.3 The Governor in Relation to the Council of Ministers
13.4 The Advocate-General for India
14 The State Legislature
14.1 Composition of Legislature
14.2 Duration of State Legislature
14.3 Sessions of the State Legislature
14.4 Officers of State Legislature
14.5 Legislative Council vis a vis Legislative Assembly
14.6 Privileges and Immunities of Members of State Legislature
14.7 Legislative Procedure for Bills
14.8 Revenues of the State Legislature
14.9 Budget
15 Administration of Union Territories, Acquired Territories,
and Special Areas
15.1 Union Territory (UT)
15.2 Acquired Territory
15.3 Scheduled Areas: Fifth Schedule
15.4 Tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram:
Sixth Schedule
16 The UT of Jammu & Kashmir
16.1 History of Accession
16.2 The Constitution Orders
16.3 Framing of the Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir
16.4 Indira-Abdullah Agreement
16.5 Distinct Features of the Erstwhile Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir
16.6 Abrogation of Article 370
16.7 The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019
17 Local Governance
17.1 Genesis
17.2 Panchayats and Municipalities
17.3 Institutions for Planning [Articles 243S, 243ZD and 243ZE]
17.4 The Cooperative Societies: Part IXB
17.5 The Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996
18 The Federal System – Distribution of Legislative, Executive,
and Financial Powers
18.1 Distribution of Legislative Powers
18.2 Expansion of Legislative Powers of the Union
18.3 Distribution of Executive Powers
18.4 Distribution of Financial Powers
18.5 Finance Commission
18.6 Goods and Services Tax Council
18.7 Safeguards for States in Shared Revenue
18.8 Financial Control of the Union During Emergencies
18.9 Extra-Territorial Authority of the Union
19 Administrative Relations: The Union & the States and the
States Inter-se
19.1 The Union and the States
19.2 Inter-State Relations
20 Emergency Provisions
20.1 Different Kinds of Emergencies
20.2 National Emergency (Article 352)
20.3 Failure of Constitutional Machinery in a State – President’s Rule
(Article 356)
20.4 Financial Emergency (Article 360)
21 The Judiciary
21.1 Organisation of the Judiciary
21.2 The Supreme Court
21.3 The High Court
21.4 Administrative Tribunals
21.5 Public Interest Litigation (PIL)
22 Rights and Liabilities of the Government and Public Servants
22.1 Rights of the Union and the States
22.2 Government Contracts
22.3 Suability of the Union, a State and Public Servants
22.4 Suability of the Heads of the State
22.5 Position of a Minister
22.6 Suability of Public Servants
23 The Services and Public Service Commissions
23.1 Civil Service: Need and Regulations
23.2 Recruitment and Conditions of Service
23.3 Adjudication for Punishments of Public Servants
23.4 Public Service Commissions
24 Elections
24.1 Introduction
24.2 The Election Commission
24.3 Disputes Related to Elections
24.4 The Representation of The People Act, 1950
24.5 The Representation of The People Act, 1951
24.6 Delimitation Commission (Delimitation Act, 2002)
25 Languages
25.1 Official Language of the Union
25.2 Official Language Commission [Article 344]
25.3 Parliamentary Committee on Official Language [Article 344]
25.4 Official Language for Inter-State Communication
25.5 Language of a State
25.6 Languages of Supreme Court, High Courts, and for Acts, Bills, etc.
25.7 Legislations Enacted on Official Language
25.8 Special Directives Related to Language
26 An Overview of Federal Polities
26.1 Context
26.2 A Brief History of Federalism
26.3 The Relevance of Federalism
26.4 What is a Federation?
26.5 Overview of Contemporary Federations
27 A Comparison of Federal Polities
27.1 Formation of Federations
27.2 The Constituent Units
27.3 Distribution of Authority
27.4 The Distribution of Finances
27.5 The Inter-Governmental Relations
27.6 Symmetry and Asymmetry in Federations
27.7 Supra-Federal Organisations
27.8 The Representative Institutions of Federal Governments
27.9 The Supremacy of the Constitution in Federations
27.10 Conclusions
28 The Law Comet 2019–2024
28.1 The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024
28.2 One Nation, One Election
28.3 The CEC and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023
28.4 The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023
28.5 The Three Criminal Laws
28.6 The New Labour Codes
28.7 The Uniform Civil Code (UCC)
29 The Constitution at a Glance
Parts of the Constitution
Schedules to the Constitution
