Nishka Srinivas Veluvali
Published On: February 05, 2022 at 19:20 IST
The Supreme Court has ruled that a law passed by the Legislature is rational until it is declared unconstitutional by the Court of Law.
The Bench of Justice L Nageshwar Rao, Justice BR Gavai and Justice BV Nagarathna stated that, “The very declaration by a Court that a Statute is unconstitutional obliterates the Statute entirely as though it had never been passed”.
The Bench endorsed the Legislature passed by the Manipur Assembly annulling the Manipur Parliamentary Secretary (Appointment, Salary and Allowances and other Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2012. The Bench had also nullified the “saving clause” present in the repealed Act.
The Manipur Parliamentary Secretary (Appointment, Salary and Allowances and other Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2012 was implemented by the Legislatures of Manipur in order to provide appointments, salaries and allowances to the Parliamentary Secretary of Manipur.
In 2018, the Manipur Assembly brought in the Manipur Parliamentary Secretary Repealing Act, 2018. This Act was put forth to nullify the Judgement passed by the Supreme Court in the Bimoangshu Roy Case.
The Manipur High Court had quashed the Writ Petitions questioning the 2012 Act and the 2018 Repealing Act and ruled that both the Acts are “Unconstitutional”. The High Court was of the opinion that the power of the Legislative Institution to repeal a Law is an extending power of the Legislative body which had enacted the same Law.
However, the Supreme Court had different view as compared to the High Court, it observed as, “It is beyond the question that this Court in Bimolangshu Roy (supra) while dealing with the Assam Act, 2004 which is ad verbum to the 2012 Act, held that the Assam Act, 2004 was vitiated due to lack of legislative competence. However, the 2012 Act was not dealt with by this Court and the same continued to be valid till it was repealed. Indeed, the 2012 Act was not declared unconstitutional by any court before the High Court delivered the impugned judgment and therefore, it was well within the competence of the Manipur Legislature to repeal the 2012 Act”.
The Supreme Court therefore, held that the Manipur Legislative Assembly was competent enough to implement the Repealing Act, 2018 however, the Supreme Court nullified the saving clause of the 2018 Act.
The Court preserved only those acts, deeds and the decisions undertaken by the Parliamentary Secretaries during their tenure as per the 2012 Act.