UPSC 2021PolityModerate

We adopted parliamentary democracy based on the British model, but how does our model differ from that model? 1. As regards legislation, the British Parliament is supreme or sovereign but in India, the power of the Parliament to legislate is limited. 2. In India, matters related to the constitutionality of the Amendment of an Act of the Parliament are referred to the Constitution Bench by the Supreme Court. Select the correct answer using the code given below.

A
1 only
B
2 only
C
Both 1 and 2
Correct Answer
D
Neither 1 nor 2

Explanation

Option (c) is correct because, unlike the sovereign British Parliament, the Indian Parliament's power is limited by a written Constitution and judicial review, while Article 145(3) mandates that substantial questions of constitutional interpretation be referred to a Constitution Bench of at least five judges. Option (a) is the most tempting wrong choice but is incorrect because it overlooks the specific procedural requirement for the Supreme Court to form a Constitution Bench when deciding the validity of an Amendment. The core concept tested is the distinction between Parliamentary Sovereignty (UK) and Constitutional Supremacy (India), alongside the Indian judiciary's role in constitutional oversight.

Indian PolityParliamentary System / Comparison with British ModelParliamentary democracyBritish modelIndian Parliamentlegislative supremacyjudicial reviewConstitution BenchSupreme Courtconstitutional amendment

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