The Supreme Court of India says all laws have to pass the fundamental rights test

(12 Jan. 2007) : In a landmark verdict the Supreme Court of India declared on Thursday that laws put under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution after 1973, do not enjoy ‘’absolute immunity’’ from judicial review as thought to be by the law makers. According to the verdict no laws can be enacted by the Parliament which infringe on the fundamental rights of the citizens or the identity of the Constitution. The judgment delivered by a nine-member Bench headed by Chief Justice Y. K. Sabharwal, is a beating to the attempts of the Parliament to limit the power of the Courts. The Bench held that the Constitution of India is supreme and the judiciary is given the responsibility to review the laws enacted by the parliament when they violate the basic structure doctrine and would also amount to destroying of the fundamental rights granted to the citizen. The verdict has made it ample clear that each of the 280 laws or legislations included in the Ninth Schedule by the Parliament will be tested in the court. Legal luminaries and rights activists welcomed the Supreme Court’s Thursday judgment.