oppn parties What Is The Remedy Against Legislative Or Executive Overreach?

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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
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What Is The Remedy Against Legislative Or Executive Overreach?

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2020-11-30 15:58:34

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, speaking on the theme of "harmonious relations between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary" at the All India Presiding Officers Conference at Kevadia in Gujarat a few days ago, pointed out certain cases of "judicial overreach" which he said was disrespectful to the "jurisdictional sanctity enshrined in the Constitution".  Pointing out the judiciary's intervention in the banning of firecrackers on Diwali and appropriating the process of appointment of judges to itself, Naidu said that such decisions have resulted in "avoidable blurring of contours demarcated by the Constitution".

Even as Naidu spoke about these judgments, the Bombay High Court slammed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, and by extension the MVA government in Maharashtra, for illegally demolishing a private citizen's house in an action which it said was mala fide. One has pointed out this incident as it is the most recent example of executive overreach, so to say, against which the citizen has recourse only in a court of law. One can cite hundreds of other such instances of executive overreach. 

The fathers of the Indian constitution had demarcated the contours in such a way that none of those who impacted the lives of the ordinary citizen could crush him or her under their weight. Taking the above as an example, the Shiv Sena might allege judicial overreach on part of the Bombay HC, but the fact is that the court was only pointing out that the state (or its agency) had subverted the law to cause grief to a citizen. Who else to rectify the same but the courts?

At other times, the legislature enacts laws which are blatantly unconstitutional and trample upon the rights of the citizens. Section 66A of the IT Act was one such law. Section 118A of the Kerala Police Act (mercifully withdrawn before it was hauled up for judicial scrutiny) is a recent example. Such legislative overreach is regular and it is the judiciary which provides relief to the citizens by examining these sections for constitutional validity.

It is very easy to lambast the judiciary by citing selected verdicts but the fact is all three arms of governance are guilty of overreach and each tries to subvert the jurisdictional sanctity when it suits them or if they think they can get away with it. It is here where the demarcation works and keeps the system going. The executive or the legislature might feel aggrieved with the judiciary at times but they must keep in mind that the role of the judiciary is that of being the constitutional watchdog. It has to ensure that the other two arms of government do not violate the constitution and deny the rights which the citizens are entitled to. This is not to deny that the judiciary is not guilty of overreach. But there are inbuilt checks (like appealing to a higher court, a larger bench or even a full constitutional bench of the Supreme Court for contentious matters) in the judiciary to rectify the same. 

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