Saturday 14 January 2017

Proposed Jallikattu Ordinance


The Central Govt. appears to have taken a legally untenable view that an Ordinance cannot be issued amending the PCA Act and permitting Jallikattu during the pendency of a case in the Supreme Court relating to Jallikattu.
This view is not correct. An Ordinance by the President of India stands on the same legal footing as an Act of Parliament, and it can be issued when Parliament is not in session.
No one can say that Parliament cannot change the law just because a case is pending about it in the Supreme Court. There have been innumerable occasions when this was done. One may recall that when Indira Gandhi's appeal against the Allahabad High Court judgment in her election case was pending in the Supreme Court, not only the Representation of Peoples Act but even the Constitution was amended.. In 1951 the Constitution was amended inserting the First Schedule when appeals were pending in the Supreme Court against the judgments of the Allahabad and Patna High Courts regarding the challenge to the Zamindari Abolition Acts.
It is reported that the Central Govt. is willing to issue an Ordinance permitting Jallikattu. If this report is correct the Ordinance could have been issued by now.

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