The Preamble of India proclaims India as a state to be sovereign, it testifies to the fact that India is no longer a dependency or colony or possession of British Crown. As a sovereign independent state, India is free both internally and externally to take her own decisions and implement these for her people and territories.

While we compare the legislature system then we say that the British Parliament is a sovereign legislature and the Parliament of India is non-sovereign legislature. The doctrine of “sovereignty of Parliament” is associated with the British Parliament and this principle has three implications:

1. The Parliament can make, amend, substitute or repeal any law.
2. The Parliament can make constitutional laws by the same procedure as ordinary laws.
3. The Parliamentary laws cannot be declared invalid by the Judiciary as being unconstitutional. In order words, there is no system of judicial review in Britain.

Now we list the differences related to power of Indian and UK Parliament. These differences also limit the sovereignty of Indian parliament.

• Written nature of the constitution: The Indian parliament operates within the limits as prescribed in the constitution. Whereas the constitution of Britain is neither written nor there is anything like a fundamental law of the land.
• Federal system of governance: India has a federal system of government with a constitutional division of powers between the union and the states. Britain has a unitary system of government and hence, all the powers are vested in the Centre.
• System of Judicial Reviews: The adoption of an independent Judiciary with the power of judicial review also restricts the supremacy of our Parliament. The British Courts have to apply the Parliamentary laws to specific cases, without examining their constitutionality, legality or reasonableness.
• Fundamental rights: Article 13 prohibits the State from making a law that either takes away totally or abrogates in part a fundamental right. In Britain, on the other hand, there is no codification of justiciable fundamental rights.

In this regard, the Indian Parliament is similar to the American Congress. In USA also, the sovereignty of Congress is legally restricted by the written character of the constitution, the federal system of government, the system of judicial review and the Bill of Rights.

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During the final years of struggle for freedom, the eminent leaders of that time together sat down to formulate Constitution of India. The recommendation of the Motilal Nehru Committee and the decision taken by the meeting of Indian National congress at Karachi enabled the need for the formation of a Constitute Assembly. The Constitute Assembly framed the Constitution of India, which was established in 1946. Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected as the President of Constitute Assembly and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar headed the drafting committee. The Assembly met for 166 days spread over 2years, 11months and 18 days. The Constitution was adopted on 26^th November 1949 and came into force on 26^th January 1950.

The leaders wanted to formulate a constitution which would help India to develop its economy according to the global economy as well as to improve lives of poverty stricken population of India. Therefore, elaborate discussions were held, and during these discussions, previous laws proposed by British Government in 1909, 1919 and 1935 were taken into account. The basic structure of Indian constitution stands on the Government of India Act, 1935. Constitutions of other major countries were studied and some features of their constitution have been added in our constitution.

Features that have been borrowed from other constitutions:

From British Constitution

• Nominal Head ie,  President (like Queen)
• Cabinet System of Ministers
• Post of PM
• Parliamentary Type of Government
• Bicameral Parliament
• Lower House more powerful
• Council of Ministers responsible to Lowe House
• Speaker in Lok Sabha

From United States of America\

• Written Constitution
• Executive head of state known as President and his being the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces
• Vice- President as the ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha
• Fundamental Rights
• Supreme Court
• Provision of States
• Independence of Judiciary and judicial review
• Preamble
• Removal of Supreme court and High court Judges

From Former USSR

• Fundamental Duties
• Five year Plan

From Australia

• Concurrent list
• Language of the preamble
• Provision regarding trade, commerce and intercourse

From Japan

• Law on which the Supreme Court function

From Germany

• Suspension of Fundamental Rights during the emergency

From Canada

• Scheme of federation with a strong centre
• Distribution of powers between centre and the states and placing. Residuary Powers with the centre

From Ireland

• Concept of Directive Principles of States Policy(Ireland borrowed it from SPAIN)
• Method of election of President
• Nomination of members in the Rajya Sabha by the President

From South Africa

• Election of members of the Rajya Sabha
  • Amendment of the Constitution

From France

• Concept of “Republic”
  • Ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity (contained in the Preamble)

By Sanjukta Biswas, Content Writer- Legal Desire

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