Article 32: the right to constitutional remedies and the five writs
LUG-104 Constitutional Law-I, Unit IV: Right to constitutional remedies (Article 32). · LLB · 60 min
Article 32 guarantees the right to move the Supreme Court for the enforcement of fundamental rights and arms the Court with the five writs. This lecture reads the Article clause by clause, explains each writ with its grounds and leading case, compares Article 32 with Article 226, and covers public interest litigation, res judicata, curative petitions, the basic-structure status of judicial review and suspension during an emergency. A seven-mark question on Article 32 has appeared in almost every LUG-104 paper since 2018.
Objectives
- Explain the four clauses of Article 32 and why Ambedkar called it the heart and soul of the Constitution
- Describe each of the five writs: meaning, against whom, on what grounds, with one leading case each
- Distinguish the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Article 32 from that of the High Courts under Article 226
- Apply the rules on locus standi, public interest litigation, res judicata and curative petitions to a problem
- Explain the effect of Article 359 and the 44th Amendment on the right to move the court during an emergency
Slides
- What Article 32 says
- The nature of the right under Article 32
- Article 32 and Article 226 compared
- Habeas corpus: 'have the body'
- Mandamus: 'we command'
- Prohibition and certiorari: controlling courts and tribunals
- Quo warranto: 'by what authority?'
- Locus standi, public interest litigation and judicial activism
- Limits on the remedy: res judicata, delay and the curative petition
- Article 32, the basic structure and the tribunals
- Suspension during an emergency: Article 359 and the 44th Amendment
- How the examiner asks it
Loading the lecture…