M. K. Gupta
Of late, a myth has been created that the Parliament is Supreme. In India, it is not the Parliament which is supreme but the Constitution is supreme. The Constitution states that “we the people of India…….. and the word Parliament comes afterwards. We are a democratic country and the Members of Parliament are our representatives as we do not have direct democracy. The direct democracy is not possible because of the size of our population and number of citizens who have attainted the age of maturity. We have a written Constitution and in that, there is checks and balances between Executive, Parliament, Office of the President and the Judiciary.
In England the Parliament is Supreme where no law passed by it can be challenged. If the Parliament states day time as night or vice versa, that is the final word but in India, laws framed by the Parliament or State Assemblies can be challenged before the Judiciary if they violate the Constitution. The USA has a written Constitution with certain check and balances and there too, the Constitution is Supreme. The President Richard Nixon was removed by the judiciary for his role in the Watergate and the Parliament (the Senate and Congress had not removed him. Senate and Congress are the upper and lower Houses in The USA). The USA has a Presidential form of Govt. while India has the Prime Minister as the Executive Head of the Government. In India, the Judiciary has declared many laws as ultra vires of the Constitution and every laws passed by the Parliament are subject to judicial review.
Moreover, the people are Supreme who have elected their representatives and their representatives should act in accordance to the wishes of the electorates. We so far do not have the right to recall but if the representatives fail on the test of their electorate who are, in fact, their master, they can be replaced in the next election.
IN A NUTSHELL, INSTEAD OF PARLIAMENT, THE CONSTITUTION IS SUPREME.
