How to lobotomise a law of Parliament

Out Of Court

 Unless the executive issues a notification specifying the date from which the law would be effective, the Act has no force. This process can be delayed indefinitely, making the law a dead letter.

 For instance, the Hire Purchase Act was passed some three decades ago, and though the president had given assent soon thereafter, the law did not come into force. The necessary notifications were issued two times but immediately withdrawn.

 The Supreme Court recently dealt with a similar law which had been in cold storage for eight years (Common Cause vs Union of India). The court stated that judiciary cannot do anything in such instances.

 The Delhi Rent Act, passed by Parliament in 1995 as a model legislation for the country, was signed by the president without delay. However, there were agitations in the capital organised by tenants, especially in commercial areas.

 As a result, the executive withheld the issue of the necessary notification and the law was shelved. A public interest petition was filed in the Delhi High Court for the enforcement of the Act. The court dismissed the petition.

 An appeal was moved in the Supreme Court. It has also dismissed the petition, after elaborately dealing with the status of a law which has been passed by Parliament, assented to by the president but not enforced through a notification.

 The petitioner invoked the help of the General Clauses Act to assert that once the president gave his assent to the Bill, the law should automatically be enforced. Parliament delegates the power to issue the required notification to the executive.

 Therefore, the court can issue a writ of mandamus to the executive to notify the date of enforcement. According to Section 5 of the General Clauses Act,