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Democracy and Federalism are essential features of our Constitution and basic feature of its structure. This observation was made in S.R. Bommai vs. Union of India by the Judge.
  • a)
    Justice J.S. Verma
  • b)
    Justice P.B. Sawant
  • c)
    Justice S.R. Pandyan
  • d)
    Justice A.M. Ahmadi
Correct answer is option 'B'. Can you explain this answer?
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Democracy and Federalism are essential features of our Constitution an...
But before the third Judge could hear the matter, the Union of India was ... The context of S.R. Bommai also gives us an idea about the federal structure of ... He makes statement that federalism is a basic feature of our constitution is ... the other two judges have made no attempt to answer the observation of Justice Sawant.19
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Democracy and Federalism are essential features of our Constitution an...
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Background:
The case of S.R. Bommai vs. Union of India is a landmark judgement delivered by the Supreme Court of India in 1994. It dealt with the issues related to the misuse of Article 356 of the Constitution, which gives the President the power to impose President's rule in a state. The judgement had important implications for democracy and federalism in India.

Explanation:
In the S.R. Bommai case, the Supreme Court observed that democracy and federalism are essential features of the Indian Constitution and form the basic structure of its governance. The judgement emphasized the importance of these principles in ensuring a fair and balanced system of governance.

Democracy:
Democracy refers to a form of government where the power lies with the people, either directly or through elected representatives. It is based on the principles of political equality, popular sovereignty, and the protection of individual rights. The Indian Constitution provides for a parliamentary form of democracy, where the people elect their representatives who form the government.

Federalism:
Federalism refers to the distribution of powers between the central government and the state governments. It ensures a division of powers and responsibilities between the two levels of government, allowing for local autonomy and decentralization of authority. The Indian Constitution establishes a federal system of government, where powers are divided between the central government and the state governments.

Essential features:
The Supreme Court, in the S.R. Bommai case, recognized democracy and federalism as essential features of the Indian Constitution. This means that any attempt to undermine or violate these principles would amount to a violation of the basic structure of the Constitution. The judgement emphasized the need to protect and uphold these principles in order to maintain the integrity and stability of the constitutional framework.

Justice P.B. Sawant:
The correct answer to the question is option 'B', Justice P.B. Sawant. He was one of the judges on the bench that delivered the judgement in the S.R. Bommai case. Justice Sawant played a crucial role in upholding the principles of democracy and federalism and ensuring their recognition as essential features of the Constitution.

Overall, the S.R. Bommai case reaffirmed the importance of democracy and federalism in the Indian constitutional framework. It emphasized the need to protect these principles and prevent any misuse or abuse of power that could undermine the democratic and federal character of the country.
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Direction: You have been given some passages followd by questions based on each passage. You are required to choose the mot appropriate option which follows from the passage. Only the information given in the passage should be used for choosing the answer and no external knowledge of law howsoever prominent is to be applied.The polity assured to the people of India by the Constitution is described in the Preamble wherein the word "secular" was added by the 42nd Amendment. It highlights the fundamental rights guaranteed in Articles 25 to 28 that the State shall have no religion of its own and all persons shall be equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion of their own choice, in brief, this is the concept of secularism as a basic feature of the Constitution of India and the way of life adopted by the people of India as their abiding faith and creed. M.C.Setalvad in Patel Memorial Lectures - 1985, on Secularism, referring to the Indian concept of secularism, stated thus: The ideal, therefore, of a secular State in the sense of a State which treats all religions alike and displays benevolent neutrality towards them is in a way more suited to the Indian environment and climate than that of a truly secular State.Secularism, in the Indian context, must be given the widest possible content. It should connote the eradication of all attitudes and practices derived from or connected with religion which impede our development and retard our growth into an integrated nation The concept of secularism is very much embedded in our constitutional philosophy.Secularism is thus more than a passive attitude of religious tolerance. Itis a positive of equal treatment of all religious. TheState has no religion. The State is bound to honour and to wield the scales even between all religions. It may not advance the cause of one religion to the detriment of another.Thus, only concerted and earnest endeavour, both by the State and citizen, towards secularisation lead to the stabilisation of our democratic state and the establishment of a true and cohesive Indian nationhood.Parliament can amend the constitution of India or any law without violating the Basic Structureof constitution of India. Basic Structure of the constitution of India consists of its essential features such as democracy, secularism, judicial review etc. The Parliament has decided to pass a constitutional amendment act to abolish the religions in India. Following the amendment, all the religion will be derecognized by the State and Central Government. Based on the authors arguments and given principle of law, decide the validity of the amendment?

The polity assured to the people of India by the Constitution is described in the Preamble wherein the word "secular" was added by the 42nd Amendment. It highlights the fundamental rights guaranteed in Articles 25 to 28 that the State shall have no religion of its own and all persons shall be equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion of their own choice, in brief, this is the concept of secularism as a basic feature of the Constitution of India and the way of life adopted by the people of India as their abiding faith and creed. M.C. Setalvad in Patel Memorial Lectures - 1985, on Secularism, referring to the Indian concept of secularism, stated thus:The ideal, therefore, of a secular State in the sense of a State which treats all religions alike and displays benevolent neutrality towards them is in a way more suited to the Indian environment and climate than that of a truly secular State. Secularism, in the Indian context, must be given the widest possible content. It should connote the eradication of all attitudes and practices derived from or connected with religion which impede our development and retard our growth into an integrated nation The concept of secularism is very much embedded in our constitutional philosophy.Secularism is thus more than a passive attitude of religious tolerance. It is a positive concept of equal treatment of all religions. The State has no religion. The State is bound to honour and to wield the scales even between all religions. It may not advance the cause of one religion to the detriment of another. Thus, only concerted and earnest endeavour, both by the State and citizen, towards secularisation lead to the stabilisation of our democratic state and the establishment of a true and cohesive Indian nationhood.Q. Parliament can amend the constitution of India or any law without violating the Basic Structureof constitution of India. Basic Structure of the constitution of India consists of its essential features such as democracy, secularism, judicial review etc.The Parliament has decided to pass a constitutional amendment act to abolish the religions in India.Following the amendment, all the religion will be derecognized by the State and Central Government.Based on the authors arguments and given principle of law, decide the validity of the amendment?

The Union government has called upon the Supreme Court to form a seven-judge Bench to reconsider the formulation in M. Nagaraj vs Union of India (2006) that it should be applied to the SC and ST communities.This verdict was a reality check to the concept of reservation. Even while upholding Constitution amendments meant to preserve reservation in promotions as well as consequential seniority; it contained an exposition of the equality principle that hedged reservation against a set of constitutional requirements, without which the structure of equal opportunity would collapse. These were 'quantifiable data' to show the backwardness of a community, the inadequacy of its representation in service, and the lack of adverse impact on "the overall efficiency of administration". In Jarnail Singh (2018), another Constitution Bench reaffirmed the applicability of creamy layer norms to SC/STs. However, it ruled that Nagaraj was wrong to require a demonstration of backwardness for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes, as it was directly contrary to the nine-judge Bench judgment in Indra Sawhney (1992).It is curious that Jarnail Singh accepted the presumption of the backwardness of Scheduled Castes and Tribes, but favoured applying the 'means test' to exclude from the purview of SC/ST reservation those who had achieved some level of economic advancement. While the Centre has accepted that the 'creamy layer' norm is needed to ensure that only those genuinely backward get reservation benefits, it is justifiably upset that this principle has been extended to Dalits, who have been acknowledged to be the most backward among the backward sections. Another problem is the question whether the exclusion of the advanced sections among SC/ST candidates can be disallowed only for promotions.Most of them may not fall under the 'creamy layer' category at the entry level, but after some years of service and promotions, they may reach an income level at which they fall under the 'creamy layer'. This may result in the defeat of the object of the Constitution amendments that the court itself had upheld to protect reservation in promotions as well as consequential seniority. Another landmark verdict in the history of affirmative action jurisprudence may be needed to settle these questions.Q. Under Article 235 of the Constitution of India, the administrative control over the members of district and subordinate judiciary in the States vest with the concerned High Court. Further, the State Government, in consultation with the High Court, frames the Rules and Regulations regarding the issues of appointment, promotion, and reservations etc. of Judicial Officers in the State Judicial Service.Therefore, Central Government has no role in this regard. Based only on the principle of law and argument identified by the author above, would such a reservation be valid if made by the Central Government?

Passage - 5The Union government has called upon the Supreme Court to form a seven-judge Bench to reconsider the formulation in M. Nagaraj vs Union of India (2006) that it should be applied to the SC and ST communities. This verdict was a reality check to the concept of reservation. Even while upholding Constitution amendments meant to preserve reservation in promotions as well as consequential seniority; it contained an exposition of the equality principle that hedged reservation against a set of constitutional requirements, without which the structure of equal opportunity would collapse. These were quantifiable data to show the backwardness of a community, the inadequacy of its representation in service, and the lack of adverse impact on "the overall efficiency of administration". In Jarnail Singh (2018), another Constitution Bench reaffirmed the applicability of creamy layer norms to SC/STs. However, it ruled that Nagaraj was wrong to require a demonstration of backwardness for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes, as it was directly contrary to the nine-judge Bench judgment in Indra Sawhney (1992).It is curious that Jarnail Singh accepted the presumption of the backwardness of Scheduled Castes and Tribes, but favoured applying the means test to exclude from the purview of SC/ST reservation those who had achieved some level of economic advancement. While the Centre has accepted that the creamy layer norm is needed to ensure that only those genuinely backward get reservation benefits, it is justifiably upset that this principle has been extended to Dalits, who have been acknowledged to be the most backward among the backward sections. Another problem is the question whether the exclusion of the advanced sections among SC/ST candidates can be disallowed only for promotions. Most of them may not fall under the creamy layer category at the entry level, but after some years of service and promotions, they may reach an income level at which they fall under the creamy layer. This may result in the defeat of the object of the Constitution amendments that the court itself had upheld to protect reservation in promotions as well as consequential seniority. Another landmark verdict in the history of affirmative action jurisprudence may be needed to settle these questions.Q.Under Article 235 of the Constitution of India, the administrative control over the members of district and subordinate judiciary in the States vest with the concerned High Court. Further, the State Government, in consultation with the High Court, frames the Rules and Regulations regarding the issues of appointment, promotion, and reservations etc. of Judicial Officers in the State Judicial Service. Therefore, Central Government has no role in this regard. Based only on the principle of law and argument identified by the author above, would such a reservation be valid if made by the Central Government?

The Constitution which lays down the basic structure of a nation's polity is built on the foundations of certain fundamental values. The vision of socio-economic change through the Constitution is reflected in its lofty Preamble.The Preamble expresses the ideals and aspirations of a renascent India. By the year 1949, the Constituent Assembly had completed the drafting of the Fundamental Rights Chapter. Fundamental Rights are constitutional guarantees for the human rights of our people. These rights were one of the persistent demands of our leaders throughout the freedom struggle. The founding fathers were conscious of the fact that mere political democracy, i.e., getting the right to vote once in five years or so was meaningless unless it was accompanied by social and economic democracy. Dr. Ambedkar had said:"We do not want merely to lay down a mechanism to enable people to come and capture power. The Constitution also wishes to lay down an ideal before those who would be forming the government. That ideal is of economic democracy."Our founding fathers, however, were far-sighted people therefore they consolidated the principles of good governance as Directive Principles contradistinguished from issues of rights, government and politics.That is how the vision of our founding fathers and the aims and objectives which they wanted to achieve through the Constitution are contained in the Preamble, the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles. These three may be described as the soul of the Constitution and the testament of the founding fathers to the succeeding generations together with the later Part on Fundamental Duties.Q. It is fundamental right of every citizen not to be discriminated on the ground of religion, race, sex, place of birth or any of them. However, nothing in the fundamental rights shall prevent the state from making any special provision for women, children or elderly. State of XYZ enacted a law granting reservation of 50% in National Law School XYZ - to the native students scoring more than 75% percent in XII Examination. Based on the essence of the passage, decide whether the move of reservation is constitutional or not

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Democracy and Federalism are essential features of our Constitution and basic feature of its structure. This observation was made in S.R. Bommai vs. Union of India by the Judge.a)Justice J.S. Vermab)Justice P.B. Sawantc)Justice S.R. Pandyand)Justice A.M. AhmadiCorrect answer is option 'B'. Can you explain this answer? for CLAT 2025 is part of CLAT preparation. The Question and answers have been prepared according to the CLAT exam syllabus. Information about Democracy and Federalism are essential features of our Constitution and basic feature of its structure. This observation was made in S.R. Bommai vs. Union of India by the Judge.a)Justice J.S. Vermab)Justice P.B. Sawantc)Justice S.R. Pandyand)Justice A.M. AhmadiCorrect answer is option 'B'. Can you explain this answer? covers all topics & solutions for CLAT 2025 Exam. Find important definitions, questions, meanings, examples, exercises and tests below for Democracy and Federalism are essential features of our Constitution and basic feature of its structure. This observation was made in S.R. Bommai vs. Union of India by the Judge.a)Justice J.S. Vermab)Justice P.B. Sawantc)Justice S.R. Pandyand)Justice A.M. AhmadiCorrect answer is option 'B'. Can you explain this answer?.
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