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Indian Constitutional Law - New Challenges

LL.M. · 21 topics in 5 units

Past question papers for Indian Constitutional Law - New Challenges

Unit I 4 topics

  1. Indian federalism: Centre-State relations, the GST Council and the GovernorWhether India is federal at all, how the 101st Amendment and Mohit Minerals reshaped fiscal federalism, and how the Supreme Court has disciplined the Governor's power over State Bills from Nabam Rebia to the 2025 Presidential Reference.8 min
  2. Sharing of resources and inter-State disputesRiver water under Article 262 and the 1956 Act, the Cauvery judgment of 2018, the fiscal machinery of the Finance Commission, mineral wealth after the 2024 royalty case, and the Union's role as arbiter.6 min
  3. Emergency powers and President's Rule under Article 356The three emergencies, the safeguards added by the 44th Amendment, and how Bommai, Rameshwar Prasad and the Article 370 judgment have set the limits of judicial review over President's Rule.8 min
  4. New States, special status and the Scheduled and Tribal AreasParliament's power under Articles 3 and 4 to make and unmake States, from linguistic reorganisation to Telangana and Jammu and Kashmir, the special provisions of Articles 370 to 371J, and the Fifth and Sixth Schedules as asymmetric federalism for tribal India.7 min

Unit II 5 topics

  1. The basic structure doctrine: limits on constitutional amendmentFrom Shankari Prasad to Kesavananda and on to NJAC and the EWS case: the doctrine, its theoretical justification, the counter-majoritarian objection, and how other constitutional courts have received it.6 min
  2. Constitutionalism and privatisation: who is 'the State' under Article 12?The idea of limited government, the growth of 'other authorities' from Rajasthan SEB to Pradeep Kumar Biswas, the public-function route under Article 226 after Zee Telefilms, and whether privatisation requires a wider definition of the State.6 min
  3. Horizontal application of fundamental rightsVertical and horizontal, direct and indirect effect; the rights that bind private persons by their text; the Supreme Court's path from the Asiad workers case to Kaushal Kishor (2023); and the German, South African, American and British models.6 min
  4. Equality, affirmative action and the impact of privatisationSubstantive equality and reservation from Indra Sawhney to the EWS and sub-classification judgments, and what happens to the State's affirmative action duty when jobs and education move into private hands.6 min
  5. Constitutional provisions on women's empowermentThe text (Articles 14, 15(3), 39, 42, 51A(e), 243D and the 106th Amendment), the shift from protection to autonomy in the case law, feminist critiques of both, and India's obligations under CEDAW.6 min

Unit III 5 topics

  1. Freedom of the press and the right to broadcast and telecastPress freedom read into Article 19(1)(a), the newsprint and price-page cases, the airwaves as public property after Cricket Association of Bengal, prior restraint and fair trial, and the new challenges of sealed covers, digital media rules and internet shutdowns.6 min
  2. The emerging regime of new rights: Article 21, privacy and digital freedomsHow Article 21 became the source of unenumerated rights after Maneka Gandhi, the privacy judgment and its proportionality test, autonomy and dignity cases, speech and the internet, climate change, and the limits the Court set in the marriage equality case.8 min
  3. Compensation jurisprudence: public law damages for violation of fundamental rightsHow the Supreme Court turned Articles 32 and 226 into a source of monetary relief, from Rudul Sah and Nilabati Behera to D.K. Basu and Chandrima Das, why sovereign immunity does not apply, and where the law has moved since.6 min
  4. Right to education and the commercialisation of educationHow education moved from a directive to a fundamental right through Mohini Jain, Unni Krishnan and Article 21A, the RTE Act's reach into private schools, and the line of cases from T.M.A. Pai to Modern Dental College on fees, capitation and the profit motive.6 min
  5. Reading directive principles and fundamental duties into fundamental rightsHow Parts III and IV moved from conflict (Champakam, Article 31C) to balance (Minerva Mills) to fusion, with directive principles supplying the content of Article 21 and fundamental duties used to interpret and limit rights.5 min

Unit IV 2 topics

  1. Rights of minorities: Articles 29 and 30Who is a minority, the cultural and educational rights in Articles 29 and 30, the T.M.A. Pai to Inamdar line on regulation and admissions, the 2024 Aligarh Muslim University judgment, and the liberal-multicultural debate.6 min
  2. Secularism and the State's power to regulate secular activities associated with religionIndian secularism as principled distance, Article 25(2)(a) and 26, the essential religious practices test from Shirur Mutt to Sabarimala and the hijab case, and its critics, with American, French and European comparisons.9 min

Unit V 5 topics

  1. Judicial review, judicial activism and judicial accountabilityThe sources of judicial review, the rise of public interest litigation and continuing mandamus, the critique of overreach, and who judges the judges: appointments, removal, transparency and contempt.5 min
  2. Judicial independence: appointment, transfer and removal of judgesThe constitutional guarantees of independence, the three Judges cases and the NJAC judgment on appointments, transfer under Article 222, removal by impeachment under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, and the in-house procedure, with comparative models.6 min
  3. Tribunals and the separation of powersArticles 323A and 323B, the line from Sampath Kumar and L. Chandra Kumar to the Madras Bar Association cases, the Tribunals Reforms Act 2021 and the 2025 judgment, and why tribunalisation is a contest over judicial independence.5 min
  4. The Supreme Court and electoral reformThe voter's right to know, disqualification of convicted legislators, NOTA, criminalisation, the independence of the Election Commission after Anoop Baranwal, and the 2024 electoral bonds judgment, set against comparative campaign finance law.6 min
  5. Coalition government, defections and the nexus of politics, crime and businessStability of coalition and minority governments, the Governor and the floor test, the Tenth Schedule from Kihoto Hollohan to Subhash Desai, bribery of legislators after Sita Soren, the Vohra Committee's nexus, and grassroots democracy under Parts IX and IXA.6 min