SC flays legislature for misuse of Ninth Schedule

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: Defining parameters, within which the government or the legislature could exercise its powers to make laws under the Ninth Schedule, the Supreme Court on January 11 asserted that laws under the Schedule could be open to challenge if they violated fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The landmark ruling by a nine-judge Constitution Bench, headed by chief justice YK Sabharwal, affirmed that there could not be blanket protection of laws, even those put in the Ninth Schedule through a constitutional amendment. The judgement came just a day after the apex court observed that Parliament's actions were not beyond judicial scrutiny, while upholding the expulsion of MPs. The court held that any law placed in the Ninth Schedule after April 24, 1973 (when Kesavananda Bharti judgement was delivered) will be open for challenge. The verdict was made on a reference by a five-member Constitution bench on issues whether laws placed in the Ninth Schedule were beyond judicial review. “Justification for conferring protection, not blanket protection, on the laws included in the ninth schedule by constitutional amendments shall be a matter of constitutional adjudication by examining the nature and extent of infraction of a fundamental right by a statute sought to be constitutionally protected,” the SC bench said in a 108-page judgement.

FOREQUOTE

The world should build vehicles with the same frugal mentality of the Chinese and the Indians—it’s a matter of survival. It’s the new challenge. here’s no room for complacency.

—Carlos Ghosn, CEO, Renault & Nissan

Carlos Ghosn, the head of French-Japanese alliance Renault&Nissan, said, automakers who wanted to survive should take their cue from cost-cutting in China and India. He said this in an interview, published in the Brazilian weekly, Veja, on the eve of the centennial edition of the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan. The Brazilian-born Frenchman pointed to Tatas’ recent launch of the world’s cheapest car, a four-door with a retail price of $2,000. China and India had unleashed a true ‘revolution’ and western automakers must adapt if they wanted to stay in business, he said.

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• Economy

India Inc on January 10 said there was no evidence to support finance minister P Chidambaram’s views that companies were artificially jacking up prices, leading to higher inflation. In fact, it wanted the government to stay away from micro-management, which it felt was a retrograde step.

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