Published on: November 14, 2023 at 12:43 IST
Court: Supreme Court of India
Citation: J.K. Industry Ltd. V. Union of India (2007)
Honourable Supreme Court of India has held that Doctrine of Ultra Vires must be invoked when a subordinate legislation is arbitrary or contrary to statute if it fails to take into account principles which are expressly or by necessary implication are required followed by the statute or the Constitution. If the subordinate legislation does not conform to the statutory or constitutional requirements or that it offends Article 14 or Article 19 of the Constitution which would deem it to be Ultra Vires.
128. Subordinate legislation cannot be questioned on the ground of violation of principles of natural justice on which administrative action may be questioned. A distinction must, however, be made between delegation of a legislative function in which case the question of reasonableness cannot be gone into and the investment by the statute to exercise a particular discretionary power. In the latter case, the question may be considered on all grounds on which administrative action may be questioned, such as, non-application of mind, taking irrelevant matters into consideration, failure to take relevant matters into consideration, etc.
A subordinate legislation may be struck down as arbitrary or contrary to statute if it fails to take into account vital facts which expressly or by necessary implication are required to be taken into account by the statute or the Constitution. This can be done on the ground that the subordinate legislation does not conform to the statutory or constitutional requirements or that it offends Article 14 or Article 19 of the Constitution. However, it may be noted that, a notification issued under a section of the statute which requires it to be laid before Parliament does not make any substantial difference as regards the jurisdiction of the court to pronounce on its validity.
Drafted By Abhijit Mishra
