Gandhinagar: Stressing the need for ensuring clarity in laws, Union home minister Amit Shah said in Gandhinagar on Tuesday that "grey areas" left in the drafting of legislation will leave scope for judicial intervention. He was addressing lawmakers in the Gujarat Assembly as part of a day-long "Legislative Drafting Training Workshop" organised by the assembly secretariat.
"I know that whatever I am going to speak about will create a controversy, but I want to tell you that the judiciary will intervene only when you leave a grey area in drafting the legislation. The more clarity in the legislation, the less intervention of courts," Shah said in his address to the House, where MLAs, MPs as well as former legislators and speakers, were present.
Commenting on the Union govt's move of abrogating Article 370, he said, "When the article was drafted, it was clearly written that it is a temporary provision of the Constitution, which can be removed through an amendment that can be passed through a simple majority in Parliament."
Stressing the significance of legislative drafting, Shah said, "If it was written that it is a constitutional provision instead of a temporary one, then we would have required a two-thirds majority during voting instead of a simple majority. Thus, more clarity leads to less judicial intervention."
In Aug 2019, the Centre revoked the special status granted under Article 370 of the Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir. The Supreme Court also upheld its abrogation later, stating that it was a temporary provision. Shah claimed that "bad drafting" of legislation is the main reason why the difference between the legislature, executive and judiciary is getting blurred today.
"Our Constitution is very clear about the roles of the legislature, executive and judiciary. It says the govt will formulate policies and the legislature will pass laws according to those policies. The judiciary will define the laws and the executive will implement them. But lines are blurred today between these three because of bad drafting of legislation," he said.
Stating that the "art of drafting legislation" is diminishing, the Union minister felt that all legislative assemblies must conduct workshops to enhance legislative drafting skills. Shah said that India's Constitution, drafted and edited under Dr B R Ambedkar, is the most ideal example in the entire world of legislative drafting. "At that time, 72 barristers were part of the Constituent Assembly. Nearly 14 per cent of their time was spent discussing fundamental rights. After such intense discussions, our Constitution was prepared. And today, some NGOs give us advice on the issue of fundamental rights," he quipped.