Question

write debate on the topic: Constitutional Of Law.​

Answer 1

• In August 1951, an elegantly attired European walked into Madras University’s beach campus. An Austro-Hungarian by birth, Charles Henry Alexandrowicz was an international lawyer from London. He had been recruited to head the university’s new department of international and constitutional law. Unfazed by the stifling heat, Alexandrowicz set himself a punishing schedule and quickly transformed his department into a leading research centre.

• Six years later, Alexandrowicz wrote a short monograph: Constitutional Developments In India. He pointed out that courts were frequently ignoring the constituent assembly’s debates about the framing of our Constitution when deciding constitutional cases. He felt that this was a mistake as the debates offered valuable guidance. The debates could help fill gaps in the Constitution’s text; lessen tensions between the legislature and judiciary; reduce the need for constitutional amendments; and adapt the charter to changing times.

• Some judges used the assembly’s committee reports to resolve ambiguities in the text. In doing so, they broadened our understanding of “constitutional debates" to cover assembly documents other than the speeches found in the Debates. But even these documents were only sparingly used in constitutional litigation.

• After the 1973 Kesavananda case, however, the judiciary’s attitude shifted. Lawyers and judges began openly consulting and citing the debates. Alexandrowicz, however, received no credit for this turnaround. He had moved to Australia in 1961 and his attention turned to other subjects.

• Just before Alexandrowicz left India, a young American arrived in Delhi. Granville Austin’s research focused on the assembly’s personalities, politics and processes. Constitutional Developments was among the first books that he read. Austin included multiple references to the book in his PhD thesis, which was later published under the title Indian Constitution: Cornerstone Of A Nation.

• Cornerstone was the first authoritative account of our Constitution’s making. Its footnotes were crammed with quotations and citations from the Debates. It quickly became a standard reference text for the bar and the bench. Contemporaneous with Cornerstone, the Indian Institute of Public Administration published a five-volume series, The Framing Of India’s Constitution. It contained committee minutes, reports, and drafts from the assembly’s files. Shortly thereafter, the British government began releasing its India records in a 12-volume set called Transfer Of Power. These bulky volumes shed new light on the assembly’s early days.

• Outside the law, however, not many knew about these resources and those who did were unable to find them. Aside from bar associations and high courts, most libraries either lacked the entire collection or imposed access restrictions on relevant volumes. The historian, Ramachandra Guha, was able to read the full set of Debates only at Stanford University, US. His resourceful bookseller in Delhi was simply unable to procure them.