Riding power without bridles

An undefined constitutional clause has grown too big for the times

Few provisions in the Constitution have grown from apparent insignificance to acquire formidable power as Article 142. It grants power to the Supreme Court to pass any decree to do “complete justice”. The founding fathers did not expect this enormous transformation and passed the rule without debate in May 1949. But gradually, the court invoked this Article more and more and it has become an immense source of judicial authority. It was used in the recent Ayodhya judgment, orders in the National Register of Citizens, coal mine cases, constitutional appointments and ban on liquor shops on highways, to name a