The Ninth Schedule of the Indian Constitution is an exceptional and controversial legal instrument that grants specific laws immunity from judicial scrutiny. This was introduced through the First Amendment in 1951 to protect progressive socio-economic legislation or agrarian reform laws from being challenged as violations of fundamental rights. However, over time, the scope of the ninth schedule has become a tool in the hands of consecutive governments for covering laws under protection from judicial revision, raising critical concerns on the balance of legislative power, constitutional supremacy, and judicial supervision.
Genesis and Purpose of the Ninth Schedule
The Ninth Schedule is traced back to the post-independence socioeconomic restructuring by the government of India, which aimed at removing inequalities in land property and promoting agrarian reforms. Many laws relating to agricultural reform enacted by various states faced judicial bottlenecks. They struck down on the grounds of infringement of fundamental rights, particularly Articles 14 (Right to Equality) and 19 (right to property, later deleted by the 44th amendment in 1978). To counteract these judicial setbacks, provisions were made to bring the ninth schedule, which under Article 31B gave constitutional immunity to the laws covered therein, thus ensuring their continued validity regardless of infringement on fundamental rights.1
Judicial Review and the Evolution of Constitutional Doctrine
The Ninth Schedule is central to a complex interplay among legislative power, judicial review, and constitutional supremacy. Though it was initially enacted to protect progressive social and economic reforms from judicial invalidation, its application raised serious concerns regarding its possible misuse in protecting unconstitutional laws from judicial scrutiny. Emerging jurisprudence on the Ninth Schedule reflects the judiciary’s attempts to sound out fundamental rights and the Constitution’s essential features, notwithstanding repeated legislative efforts to contour them.
Evolution of Judicial Review about the Ninth Schedule
In the early years of the Amendment 1951, the ninth schedule was seen as an iron-clad shield, protecting the laws under it against any court discomfort. The judiciary came on the scene largely supportive of this absolute immunity. This created a large-scale erosion of judicial revision, as practically any law under the ninth schedule nullified fundamental rights. The exhaustive exercise of this provision undermined the supremacy of the Constitution and brought in the question of parliamentary supremacy with no checks and balances. So long as the Supreme Court judgments went in favor of the express purpose of the Ninth Schedule, in custom during the 1950s and 1960s, they did not delve deeply into the implications that parliamentary supremacy and unlimited lawmaking abilities had upon judicial independence and fundamental rights.
In the case of Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala, the judge led to a fundamental change in the argument for the next case; causes of justice of the share of all human beings, particularly judicial review and basic rights, could not be revoked by Parliament. Another highlight in this judge’s order was the embroilment of the unamendable power of the ninth schedule, thus laying the groundwork for future assaults. Following this one, the case of Waman Rao v. Union of India (1981) also resorted to Kesavananda Bharati. In that case, it was maintained that the laws inserted in the ninth schedule after April 24, 1973, would no longer enjoy automatic immunity and hence would be open to judicial scrutiny. This thus posed the first substantial restriction on the absolute protection of the ninth schedule.
The Landmark I.R. Coelho Case and the Basic Structure Doctrine
The most definitive decision on the ninth schedule came in I.R. Coelho v. State of Tamil Nadu (2007), where a bank of nine Supreme Court judges delivered a historical verdict, reinforcing the power of judicial revision. The trial has reaffirmed that judicial review is an essential part of the basic structure of the Constitution and that any law that violates this principle, even if placed under the ninth schedule, is not immune to scrutiny. He argued that the post-1973 laws in the ninth schedule could be challenged if they violated the fundamental rights that were part of the basic structure, such as Articles 14, 19, and 21. The decision ensured that the ninth schedule could not be used to ignore constitutional scrutiny, preventing parliament from having powers of dust. This case restored the balance between legislative supremacy and judicial supervision, preventing the ninth schedule from being arbitrarily used to protect laws that violated fundamental rights.
Protection of Socio-Economic Laws vs. Misuse for Political Gain
The ninth schedule was initially meant to be a safe house where the land reform laws could take refuge from being knocked off by the courts and ensure social and economic justice.
Successive governments, however, have misused the ninth schedule to include laws not related to agrarian reforms but also those of reserve policies, financial policies, and commercial regulations, thus making them immured against judicial review.
For instance, the Tamil Nadu Reserve Law (1994) is placed under the ninth schedule to escape challenge under Article 14 (right to equality) because it provided for 69% of reservations in education areas. More amendments to the state laws on property and taxation have also made it to the ninth schedule to insulate scrutiny. Such practices show that the ninth schedule has expanded far beyond its original intention and has raised serious questions about its misuse to protect unconstitutional policies.2
The Impact of Judicial Review on Socio-Economic Legislation
After I. R. Coelho, the courts began to embark upon an active re-evaluation of the laws in the Ninth Schedule under the constitutional principles. While this has curtailed excessive legislative activity, the governments have bargained the task of justifying in the first place the constitutional validity of such laws to be placed in the Ninth Schedule. Thus ensued a dislocation between the legislature and the judiciary, with the governments perceiving judicial review as an impediment to implementing policies. In contrast, the judiciary perceives the same as a necessary bulwark against infringement of constitutionally protected rights.3
The Role of Judicial Review in Upholding Constitutional Supremacy
The doctrine of the judicial revision, reinforced in cases such as Minerva Mills v. Union of India (1980) and L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India (1997), guarantees that no law, including those in the ninth schedule, can replace the fundamental principles of the Constitution. Without judicial revision, legislative majorities can easily replace fundamental rights; governments can place any law in the ninth schedule, even unconstitutional, and parliamentary supremacy could undermine constitutional supremacy, violating the principle of checks and balances.
While the Supreme Court limits the general immunity that the ninth schedule offers, it also accepts that some well-being laws necessitate protection from being swept into unfair litigation. Thus, maintaining the balance would bring those laws, such as agrarian reforms and affirmative action policies, within the ambit of preservation but without compromising fundamental rights.
The aspect of the judicial review has to be considered the protective cover so that only those laws designed and aligned with constitutional values survive and the exercise reined above by the legislature without resorting to the ninth schedule as a hole for avoiding constitutional mandates.
The Way Forward: Reforms and Recommendations
Various reforms are worth considering so the ninth schedule can meet its true purpose and not be mismanaged. The first reform that ought to be instituted is making the criterion by which laws will be placed in the ninth schedule transparent. This can be achieved by a constitutional amendment whereby a category or class of laws would sufficiently qualify for inclusion,
thereby saving the process from arbitrary inclusion.
Likewise, a judicial mechanism can be provided, whereby the requisite need for protection by the ninth schedule would be gauged. After that, a periodic review of any laws in the ninth schedule should, without fail, be initiated to check their relevance to the fundamental rights. This will ensure that any law that is outdated or one that counteracts fundamental rights will not stay protected for eternity.
Third, for the good health of judicial revision, since this is crucial, the courts have to continue to subject scrutiny of laws that infringe on fundamental rights and that they are for a legitimate constitutional goal. Finally, it is essential to foster legislative responsibility, where the parliament exercises self-control over the selection and placement of laws in the ninth schedule. Only those laws concerned with social justice and economic development should be included so that the ninth Schedule does not become a device to escape constitutional scrutiny. These reforms would help balance legislative power and constitutional supremacy, preserving fundamental rights’ sanctity.4
1 By Priyanka Lal & Ajay Gadhwal, IX SCHEDULE AS A LIMITATION ON THE POWER OF JUDICIAL REVIEW Amendments to constitution- A Scenario after Keshvanand A . Doctrine of Basic Structure
2 Karishma Dodeja, Belling the Cat: The Curious Case of the Ninth Schedule in the Indian Constitution, 28 NATL. LAW SCH. INDIA REV. (2016).
3{Formatting Citation}
4 What is Ninth Schedule of the Constitution?, Civilsdaily (Apr. 18, 2023), https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/what-is-ninth-schedule-of-the-constitution/