Amendments to Indian Constitution and Their Impact: An Assessment

Abstract

The Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly incorporated the amendment process in the Constitution to help India adapt itself to the changing circumstances. Society is never stagnant. It is ever-changing. Therefore, the amending procedure was made partly flexible so as to make it easy for the Legislature. But the Parliament assumed that it has unlimited amending power. It considered itself to be the supreme law, and some of the amendments were destroying the very basic structure of the Indian Constitution. But the landmark verdicts in the Keshavnand Bharati and Minerva Mill Cases curtailed the amending power of the Parliament. However, looking at the ease with which amendments can be made depending on the whims and fancies of the ruling government and politics, good legislative practices should involve estimating all possible consequences before passing a law, and considering if the proposed law is the best way to tackle a problem. Unfortunately, India lacks both the required will and the organized process for conducting this full assessment. To promote a "culture of justification" in our institutions, we must strive for accountability in law-making by doing a thorough impact assessment of all our laws (parent laws, subordinate laws) and policies. The present study examines the major amendments to the Constitution and assesses the legislative impact of laws both before and after their enactment.