Principles of Federal Supremacy and Harmonious Construction

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The 5 principles laid down by Supreme Court on the rule of harmonious construction in the landmark case of CIT Vs Hindustan Bulk Carriers. On case by case basis the courts with held the supremacy of the federal structure some time giving weight to center and sometime to state.

The distribution of legislative power between the center and the states is the most important aspect of Indian federal structure. 
                                                              7th schedule of the constitution had made elaborate provisions for division of legislative powers through lists (List 1-Union, List 2-State, List 3-Concurrent list). Even though lists are clearly itemized, some overlapping nature of these lists will lead to conflicts.For Example: Animal Husbandry Vs Prevention of Cruelty against animals.

                                              Federal Supremacy                                                   

Art 246:-  
            Under this hierarchy of lists, first union lists, concurrent list and the state list are followed. In case of disputes regarding legislature, competency in particular matter the union list will prevail over the two lists. Similarly in case of a dispute between concurrent list and state list the former will be superseded.

Principle of Federal Supremacy:
  • The system of distribution of administrative powers between the union and states is followed in the Constitution of India in various administrative fields.

  • In addition to the array of subjects allotted in the VII Schedule of Constitution, even in normal time parliament can under certain circumstances, assume legislative power over a subject falling within the sphere exclusively reserved for the states. 
  • Besides the power to legislate on a very wide field, the Constitution confers on the Union Parliament, the constituent power or the power to initiate Amendment of the Constitution.
  • In the West Bengal case of 1963, it was the first time where this issue was discussed at length by the Apex Court. The main issue involved in this case was the exercise of sovereign powers by the Indian states. 
  •  The Supreme Court held that both the legislative and executive power of the States are subject to the respective supreme powers of the Union. The court concluded that the structure of the Indian Union as provided by the Constitution one is centralized, with the States occupying a secondary position vis-à-vis the Centre, hence the Centre possessed the requisite powers to acquire properties belonging to States.
  • The crux of the majority judgment, in this case, is that even though both the Union and the States in India derive legislative powers from the same Constitution, the States would have no legal rights as against the overriding powers of the Union, because of a general theory of paramountcy or superiority of the Union.

                                             Harmonious Construction

Art 131 :-   

                      The exclusive power of jurisdiction regarding interpretation of lists lies with the supreme court. The courts while dealing with disputes applies principle of  interpretation such as "Harmonious Interpretation", "Doctrine of pith and substance" and "Doctrine of colorable legislation". Before giving predominance to one list over other the court will try to construe the entries so, as to reconcile the conflict and avoid overlapping.  The method is called harmonious interpretation. 
                                                                                                           Courts made some conclusions that even after applying the principles of harmonization, the conflict exist then the hierarchy mentioned under Art: 246 shall apply which leads "federal supremacy". 


The supreme court laid down five principles of Harmonious Construction in landmark case of CIT Vs Hindustan Bulk Carriers:-


  1. The court must avoid a head on clash of seemingly contradicting provisions and they must constru the contridicting provisions so as to harmonize them
  2. The provisions of one section can not be used to defeat the provision contained in another unless the court, despite all its effort, is unable to find a way to reconcile their differences.
  3. When it is impossible to completely reconcile the differences in contradictory provisions, the courts must interpret them in such a way so that effect is given to both the provisions as much as possible.
  4. Courts must also keep in mind that interpretation that reduces one provision to a useless number or dead is not a harmonious construction.
  5. To harmonize does not intend to destroy any statutory provision or to render it fruitless.
Over the years, through judicial interpretation and judgements, the legislative powers have been devolved and federal supremacy has been upheld and Doctrine of Harmonious construction have evolved.  It was rightly said by George Washington, ‘The administration of justice is the firmest pillar of the government.’ Thus, in keeping with this thought, the judiciary should interpret the statutes properly and intelligently apply the rules for interpretation of statues to render quick justice to the citizens of the country.


References

 https://www.slideshare.net/ArunBharti8/harmonius-construction

https://www.civilsdaily.com/upsc-mains-2019-gs-paper-2-solutions-sample-structures/

https://www.drishtiias.com/upsc-mains-solved-papers/subject/indian%20polity








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