Indian Judiciary and Politics: The Changing Landscape

Indian Judiciary and Politics: The Changing Landscape

By- B.D. Dua, M.P. Singh and Rekha Saxena (eds)

Few will deny that the post-emergency higher judiciary in India has earned widespread public acclaim for its innovative and creative jurisprudence notwithstanding the argument advanced by some critics that it has exercised excessive jurisdiction, transgressing at times the executive and legislative domains, contrary to the original ‘checks and balances’ design of the Constitution. While the issue of judicial restraint in the context of constitutional separation of powers deserves serious attention, the fact of the matter is that juristocracy invariably triumphs when the elected representatives in a democracy cannot be trusted to provide good and lawful governance. From this perspective, the unprecedented judicialization of politics and the growth of judicial activism in India seems to be an organic response to pressures within the political system itself.

The contributors to the volume are well-known scholars, lawyers, and academics. They reflect on the itinerary of higher judiciary and its contributions to constitutional law and public good contextualized for the developmental path of the political system since the commencement of the Republic in 1950. The papers cover a variety of topics—judicial activism, judiciary and ecology, secularism, parliamentary institutions, central executive, new economy, and judicial reforms—that focus primarily, though not exclusively, on the ramifications of judicial activism for Indian politics.

B.D. Dua is Dean (Emeritus), Faculty of Arts and Science, and Professor (Emeritus), Department of Political Science, University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, Currently, he holds Adjunct Professorship at the University of Lethbridge.

M.P. Singh is Professor of Political  Science at the University of Delhi and specializes in Indian and Canadian politics, and the philosophy of science.

Rekha Saxena is Reader at the Centre for Federal Studies, Hamdard Universty, New Delhi.

ISBN  81-7304-723-5    2008   490p.   Rs.1195/ pounds 55

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