Watering Down Of The Doctrine Of Excessive Delegation In India: Analysis Of Dissenting Opinion In The SC’s Demonetisation Verdict

Sarumathi V, Tamil Nadu National Law University

ABSTRACT

The doctrine of excessive delegation is a product of the US administrative law and adopted by Independent India owing to the need to restrict excessive delegation of legislative power and the fact that legislature is a creature borne out of the Constitution, and as such it's delegation of legislative power is subject to Constitutional limitations. This Research paper seeks to analyse the arguments and the reasoning made by the majority and dissenting opinion in the Apex Court’s demonetisation verdict, to illuminate the importance of the doctrine of excessive delegation and the various aspects associated with it including the legislative policy and guideline theory. The paper proposes that the recent demonetisation judgment specifically along with other judgements of the Apex Court has led to watering down of the doctrine of excessive delegation of legislative power in India. Moreover, a comparative analysis of the majority and minority opinion of the judgement brings to fore the loopholes within the administrative law framework in India. While a doctrine exists to limit excessive delegation of legislative power, there is an institutional reluctance on part of the judiciary to apply the principal in practice , which leads to discrepancy between what is theoretically required and the procedural reality.