Ninth schedule laws open to scrutiny: SC

More than 110 central and state laws, mostly relating to socio-economic subjects, will now be open to legal challenge with the Supreme Court lifting the constitutional immunity for them today.

The Ninth Schedule of the Constitution lists 284 laws enjoying the immunity. However, since the nine-judge Constitution Bench had set a cut-off date in 1973, more than half the laws still remain immune to judicial review.

Still, the list of laws that have lost the protective umbrella is impressive by itself. The majority of them are land reform laws passed by state governments. The states include West Bengal, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, Orissa and Rajasthan.

Though the right to property is no longer a fundamental right, some laws like the Maharashtra Abolition of Rights to Mines and Minerals Act, 1985, and several tenancy laws could be challenged on other grounds.

Among the central laws after 1973 are the Urban Land Ceiling Act, 1976, the Levy of Sugar Price Equalisation Fund Act, 1976, the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, the Coal Mines (Conservation and Development) Act, 1974, and the Sick Textile Undertakings (Nationalisation) Act, 1974.

If courts have already upheld their validity, they will remain in the schedule and enjoy immunity. But if their validity has not been tested so far, it can be done now by any litigation-happy person.

Some important central laws which escaped judicial scrutiny because of the 1973 cut-off date and will remain in the schedule legitimately are the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969, the General Insurance Nationalisation Act, 1972 and the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.

The laws which lost protection in today's judgment can be challenged on several grounds. The petitioner can argue that they violated the "basic structure" of the Constitution, a term which has defied a definition by jurists. Therefore, there is a legal goldmine for lawyers in this area.

The laws can also be challenged contending that they violated the right to life , which has been expansively interpreted to mean not only animal existence but also include the factors that make it meaningful.

Another possible challenge is by invoking Article 14, the right to equality, which now means fair procedure, lack of discrimination and arbitrariness. Article 15 can also be invoked, which prohibits discrimination on the ground of religion, caste or sex. Article 19, which deals with a rainbow of freedoms, can also be invoked to challenge the laws.