Question

Suppose the Supreme Court is devoid of its power of Judicial review. How would this impact the protection of Fundamental Rights in India?

Answer 1

If the Supreme Court were devoid of its power of Judicial Review, the protection of Fundamental Rights in India would be severely compromised in the following ways:

• Unchecked Legislative Power: The Parliament could pass arbitrary or discriminatory laws that violate citizens’ freedoms, and courts would have no legal authority to declare those laws unconstitutional or void.
• Loss of the Basic Structure Shield: Important fundamental liberties could be permanently amended or stripped away by the ruling government, as the judiciary would lose its power to strike down damaging constitutional amendments.
• Ineffective Writ Remedy: While citizens could still file for writs under Article 32, the remedy would become practically useless because the court could not invalidate illegal government policies or executive orders that caused the violation.
• Rise of Authoritarianism: The executive and legislative branches would operate without any structural checks and balances, effectively turning Fundamental Rights from legally enforceable guarantees into meaningless words on paper.