Conferment on the Supreme Court of powers to issue certain writs

Article 115, Draft Constitution of India 1948

(1) The Supreme Court shall have such further jurisdiction and powers with respect to any of the matters in the Union List as Parliament may by law confer.

(2) The Supreme Court shall have such further jurisdiction and powers with respect to any matter as the Government of India and any State may by special agreement confer, if Parliament by law provides for the exercise of such jurisdiction and powers by the Supreme Court.

Article 139, Constitution of India 1950

Parliament may by law confer on the Supreme Court power to issue directions, orders or writs, including writs in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari, or any of them, for any purposes other than those mentioned in clause (2) of article 32.

Draft Article 115 (Article 139) was debated on 27th May 1949. It conferred the power to issue writs on the Supreme Court.

The Chairman of the Drafting Committee proposed the deletion of the words ‘which relates to the enforcement of fundamental rights’ as they were superfluous.

A member proposed that the Draft Article be amended to bring its language in line with Draft Article 25 (Article 19), to read as follows:

‘Parliament may by law confer on the Supreme Court power to issue directions, orders or writs, including writs in the nature of…’

He argued that the existing language of the Draft Article was unnecessarily restrictive as it limited the writ power of the Supreme Court only to the writs named in the Draft Article. The acceptance of his amendment, he argued, ensured that Parliament was not restricted in its ability to expand the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to confer writs, directions, and orders as it saw fit.

Both proposed amendments were accepted without debate. The amended Draft Article was adopted by the Assembly on 27th May 1949.