Professional Documents
Culture Documents
v.
LIST OF ABBREVITIONS………………………………...……………………………….3
INDEX OF AUTHORITIES………………………………...………………………………4
STATEMENT OF JURISDICTION………………….……………………………………6
STATEMENT OF FACTS………………….………………………………………………7
STATEMENT OF ISSUES……….…………………………………………………...…...11
SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT……………….………………………….………………..12
ARGUMENTS ADVANCED:-
Anr ANOTHER
Art. ARTICLE
Cr. CRIMINAL
Ed. EDITION
HC HIGH COURT
Hon’ble HONOURABLE
i.e THAT IS
LR LAW REPORTER
Ors. OTHERS
P. PAGE
SC SUPREME COURT
Viz. NAMELY
& AND
STATUTES
1. The Constitution of India.
2. Indian Penal Code, 1860.
3. Motor Vehicles Act,1988.
4. Govt. of NCT of Delhi, 1991.
5. Indecent Representation of Woman (Prohibition) Act, 1986.
BOOKS
1. Constitutional Law of India, Durga Das Basu, Lexis Nexis, 8 th Edition 2008.
2. Constitution of India, V. N. Shukla, Eastern Book Company, Twelfth Edition, 2013.
3. Civil Procedure, C.K. Takwani, Eastern Book Company, Seventh Edition, 2013.
4. Constitutional Law of India, J. N. Pandey, Central Law Agency, Fifty Fifth
Edition,2018.
5. Constutution law of India, Dr, Narendra Kumar, Allahabad Law Agency, Ninth
Edition, 2015.
6. Indian Constitution Law, M P Jain, Central Law House.
7. Indian Penal Code, K D Gaur, Universal Law Publishers.
WEBSITES
1. www.indiankanoon.org
2. www.legalblog.in
3. www.casemine.com
4. www.myadva.in
5. www.mondaq.com
6. www.lawyersclubindia.com
7. www.ijtr.nic.in
8. www.latestlaws,com
9. www.livelaw.in
10. www.zegal.in
11. www.sclt.in
12. www.legalcrystal.com
13. www.the-laws.com
14. www.lawyerservices
15. www.airwebworld.com
1. Kunhayammed & Ors v. State of Kerala & Anr., AIR 2000 (6) SCC 359.
2. Subash Babu v. State of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 2011 SC 3031: (2011) 7 SCC 616: JT
2011 (8) SC 483: (2011) 7 SCALE 671.
3. Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India, AIR 1978 SC 597.
4. Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation, 1986 SC 180: (1985) 3 SCC 545.
5. State of U.P. v. Raj Narayan, AIR 1975 SC 865.
6. Ranjit D. Udeshi v. State of Maharashtra, 1965 AIR 881, 1965 SCR (1) 65.
7. Rajendra Singh Verma (D)Thr.Lrs v. Lt. Governor of NCT of Delhi & Anr, (2011) 10
SCC 1.
It is humbly submitted that the Petitioner has filed this instant petition under Article 136 of
the Constitution of Indistan. The Hon’ble Supreme Court has jurisdiction to hear this instant
matter under Article 136 of the Constitution of Indistan.
(2) Nothing in clause (1) shall apply to any judgment, determination, sentence or order
passed or made by any court or tribunal constituted by or under any law relating to Armed
Forces.
1. The Democratic Republic of Indistan, a nation that won its Independence from British
colonial rule in 1948, comprises of twenty nine states and one National Capital
Territory (NCT), Khushal Pradesh.
2. Every year in the winter season the Union Territory of Khushal Pradesh i.e. the
National Capital Territory gets enveloped in thick smog. Though the reasons for the
same have often been debated on in social media, national television, amongst
politicians and various government and NGOs but according to the investigations
carried out by some agencies, the accumulation of smog is caused due to mixed
number of factors such as:- the burning of crop in the neighboring state of Jatland and
Uttam Pradesh, weather change, vehicular pollution in Khushal Pradesh and large
amount of open constructions in NCT.
3. For the past couple of years every time the smog covers Khushal Pradesh the people
have harshly criticized the government of Khushal Pradesh due to its inability to
provide the clean air to its citizens. In this present year, 2019 the Chief Minister in
his speech in the Independence Day stated that the government has thought a lot about
curbing the smog and ways to prevent it from covering the capital. Amongst the
various means the government is requesting the governments of neighboring states of
Jatland and Uttam Pradesh to ensure that the crops are burnt far from the borders of
Khushal Pradesh and in such manner that the smog is carried away from the NCT.
4. Another pollution curbing scheme which is explained by C.M is odd-even scheme.
According to that scheme, the cars with odd number in its number plates shall be
allowed to use only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while even number cars on
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. On Sunday, it is for each household to decide to use
one of the cars they might have, irrespective of the number of the car. However, the
prohibition shall not be applicable for those cars being used for government functions.
5. The odd-even scheme was initially considered as futuristic promise which would
never see the light of day. But on 15th September the newspaper reports informed the
public that the C.M and his cabinet were actually considering the implementation of
odd-even scheme. This report caused an outrage in NCT and people started to
condemn the C.M and his government. Since the assembly elections was in next six
months, the C.M called for an immediate cabinet meeting and where it was decided
“In exercise of the powers conferred vide the Motor Vehicles Act of Indistan, the Lieutenant
Governor of the National Capital Territory of Khushal Pradesh, on being satisfied that
further steps are required to control vehicular pollution caused by non-transport four
wheeled vehicles (motor cars etc.), hereby orders, in the interest of public health and safety,
that the following prohibitory / restrictive measures shall be in vogue in the area of National
Capital Territory of Khushal Pradesh; namely The plying of non-transport four wheeled
vehicles (Motor Cars etc.) having registration number ending with odd digit (1,3,5,7,9) shall
be prohibited on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and the plying of non-transport four
wheeled vehicles (Motor Cars etc.) having registration number ending with even digit
(0,2,4,6,8) shall be prohibited on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. These restrictions shall
also apply to the nontransport four wheeled vehicles bearing registration number of other
states. These restrictions shall be applicable from 8 AM to 8 PM of such dates. These
restrictions shall not be applicable on Sundays. These restrictions shall not apply to the
vehicles of such categories as mentioned below:
Violation of these orders shall attract a fine of Rs. 20000/- in accordance with the
provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act.”
7. This shocked a number of people in the city as they were assured that the scheme
shall only be implemented after consultations with the people. People felt cheated and
as a result of the scheme middle and lower middle class was the hardest hit population
as they have only one vehicle for entire household.
8. Mr. R.C Kehta, a famous comedian based out of Khushal Pradesh, lives with his
aging parents in Hashmukh Vihar and his office and his recording studio are in
Raksha Colony. Since July 2019, his videos acquired a lot of attention and gathered
millions of subscribers to his channels as he started a series of political satirical
comedy. He had one car ending with even number in its number plate. This causes
grave hardship to him after the implementation of odd-even scheme. Now, he has to
spend major part of his day travelling from his living place to his working place.
There was also no adequate public transport in his locality. The major problem he
I.
Is the petition maintainable before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of Indistan?
II.
Is the Odd-Even scheme implemented by the Govt. of NCT violative of the
Fundamental Rights under the Constitution of Indistan?
III.
Does the satirical sketch uploaded by Mr. Kehta amounts to obscenity and
indecent representation under the Criminal Laws of Indistan?
IV.
Whether the consultation by Lt. Governor with the Council of Ministers was
constitutionally full and proper?
II. Is the Odd-Even scheme implemented by the Govt. of NCT violative of the
Fundamental Rights under the Constitution of Indistan?
The odd-even scheme implemented by Govt. of NCT is violative of the fundamental rights as
it violates various fundamental rights such as Art.21 of the Constitution which is right to life
and personal liberty, but due to the implementation of such a scheme citizens are unable to
exercise their rights of liberty. Art. 19(1)g is also violated as the scheme restraints the
practice of profession of commercial vehicle drivers. It somehow also violates Art. 14 of the
Constitution because the middle class and lower middle class people are affected much more
than the upper class people though both of them contribute in polluting the air equally.
III. Does the satirical sketch uploaded by Mr. Kehta amounts to obscenity and
indecent representation under the Criminal Laws of Indistan?
Every citizen has the right to express their opinion and in this case Mr. Kehta is
professionally a comedian and hence it was a part of his work to make people laugh and that
does not at all constitute an indecent representation and neither falls under the definition of
‘indecent representation’ under any criminal laws of our country.
IV. Whether the consultation by Lt. Governor with the Council of Ministers was
constitutionally full and proper?
The consultation was not constitutionally full and proper because Art. 239AA(4) of the
Constitution states that the Lt. Governor is supposed to take the opinion of the President in
case of any dispute of opinion with the Council of Ministers but in this case neither there has
been a proper consultation between the Lt. Governor and the Council of Ministers and nor in
a proper manner.
1.1.In case of Kunhayammed & Ors v. State of Kerala & Anr. 1, the Supreme Court
held that it is not the policy of this Court to entertain special leave petition and grant
leave under Art. 136 of the Constitution save in those case where some substantial
question of law of general or public importance is involved or there is manifest
injustice resulting from the impugned order or judgment.
In this case there is sufficient question of law. They are:
Violation of fundamental rights: The Constitution of Indistan guarantees us
certain the fundamental rights mentioned in Part III. Here those rights have
been violated by the implementation of the odd-even scheme. So clearly there
arises a substantial question of law which is of public importance. Firstly Art.
21 has been violated through the Odd-Even scheme. Under Art.21 every
person is guaranteed their personal liberty. Every person has the right to use
their own property as per their wish. But that right has been restricted by the
implementation of the Odd-Even Scheme.
Restraint to carry on any Occupation: The Odd-even scheme is not only
applicable to non- transport vehicles but also to four wheeled commercial
vehicles like taxi etc. It means this scheme also violates Art. 19(1) g. i.e. to
carry on any occupation. Driving is the occupation of the drivers of taxi or
other commercial four wheeled vehicles. But here the Govt. of NCT had put
an unreasonable restriction to that.
1.2. There are also certain questions of law i.e. whether the consultation between the Lt.
Governor and Council headed by C.M. was constitutionally valid because
consultation was not proper. Though there was a fall out between the opinions of the
Lt. Governor and Ministers, the Lt. Governor did not refer it to the President in
accordance with proviso clause of Art.239AA (4).
1.3.Moreover the power of Supreme Court under Art. 136 of the Constitution is
exercisable outside the purview of ordinary law. There are no specific grounds since it
1
AIR 2000 (6) SCC 359.
II. Is the Odd-Even scheme implemented by the Govt. of NCT violative of the
Fundamental Rights under the Constitution of Indistan?
The Odd-Even scheme implemented by the Govt. of NCT is violative of the Fundamental
Rights under the Constitution of Industan.
2.1. Firstly, the scheme implemented by the govt. of NCT deprives people’s right of
personal liberty. It means the scheme violates Art. 21 of the Constitution.
Art. 21 states as “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except
according to the procedure established by law.”
Prior to Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India3 case, the scope of Art. 21 was very
limited. It would protect the citizens only from the arbitrary action of the executive.
Now, Art. 21 protects the right to life and personal liberty of citizen not only from
Executive action but from the Legislative action also.
In Maneka Gandhi case the Supreme Court has widened the scope of the words
‘personal liberty’ considerably. Bhagwati, J. observed: “ The expression ‘personal
liberty’ in Article 21 is of widest amplitude and it covers a variety of rights which go
to constitute the personal liberty of man and some of them have raised to the status of
distinct fundamental rights and given additional protection under Article 19.”
Thus, Art.21 requires the following conditions to be fulfilled before a person is
deprived of his life and personal liberty:
i. There must be a valid law.
ii. The law must provide a procedure.
iii. The procedure must be just, fair and reasonable.
iv. The law must satisfy the requirements of Arts. 14 and 19 i.e., it must be
reasonable.
2
AIR 2011 SC 3031: (2011) 7 SCC 616: JT 2011 (8) SC 483: (2011) 7 SCALE 671.
3
AIR 1978 SC 597.
4
1986 SC 180: (1985) 3 SCC 545.
5
AIR 1975 SC 865.
III. Does the satirical sketch uploaded by Mr. Kehta amounts to obscenity and
indecent representation under the Criminal Laws of Indistan?
The satirical sketch uploaded by Mr. Kehta does not amount to obscenity and indecent
representation under Criminal Laws of Indistan.
3.1. Firstly, the word ‘obscene’ is not defined in the Indian Penal Code. But in case of
Ranjit D. Udeshi v. State of Maharashtra6, ‘obscene’ has been defined as offensive
to chastity or modesty, expressing or personating to the mind or view something that
delicacy, purity and decency forbid to be expressed. In the above-stated case the test
of obscenity was also laid down. The test of obscenity is this whether the tendency of
the matter charged as obscenity is to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open
to such immoral influences, and into whose hands a publication of this sort may fall.
In this present case the content of the sketch is such that it would never deprave or
corrupt the minds of the people as the sketch was purely a comedy. And people are
supposed to get their minds out of the box of seriousness before watching such
content. Moreover, such sketches are pretty common nowadays. People create such
kind of content to entertain people. Thus the sketch would not influence the minds of
people to that extent, so as to consider it as obscene.
3.2. The object of creating such sketch was not to represent woman indecently. The
primary the object was to create humour and entertain people. The secondary object
was to show how carelessly and without proper application of mind the odd-even
scheme was implemented. Furthermore there was no actual sexual content. It was not
an offensive sketch. Thus this sketch cannot be referred as obscene and indecent.
6
1965 AIR 881, 1965 SCR (1) 65.
The consultation by Lt. Governor with the Council of Minister was not full and proper
because
4.1.The consultation by Lt. Governor with Council of Minister is inconsistent with Article
239AA (4).
According to Article 239AA (4) of Constitution, it is clearly mentioned that whenever
there is a difference in the opinion between the Lt. Governor and the Minister the Lt.
Governor shall refer it to President and act accordingly.
Article 239AA (4) states as: There shall be a Council of Ministers consisting of not
more than ten percent of the total number of members in the Legislative Assembly,
with Chief Minister at the head to aid and advise the Lt. Governor in the exercise of
his functions in relation to matters with respect to which the Legislative Assembly has
power to make laws, except in so far as he is, by or under any law, required to act in
his discretion:
Provided that in case of difference of opinion between the Lt. Governor and his
Ministers on any matter, the Lt. Governor shall refer it to the President for decision
and act according to the decision given thereon by the President and pending such
decision it shall be competent for the Lt. Governor in any case where the matter, in
his opinion, is so urgent that it is necessary for him to take immediate action, to take
such action or to given such direction in the matter as he deems necessary.
In this case though there was a difference in opinion the Lt. Governor didn’t refer it to
the President and this in itself constitutes an improper conduct in respect to the
constitution.
Furthermore, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 44 of the Government of
National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 (1 of 1992) the President made some
rules regarding this matter. As mentioned in Section 50 of the Rules made by
President “In case of difference of opinion between the Lt. Governor and the Council
with regard to any matter, the Lt. Governor shall refer it to the Central Government
for the decision of the President and shall act according to the decision of the
President.”
Section 44 of the Rules made by the President under Govt. of National Capital
Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 also states as:
44. (1) All administrative Departments shall consult the Law Department on –
(a) proposals for legislation;
(b) the making of statutory rules, order, notifications, byelaws, regulations, schemes,
etc.
(c) any general legal principles arising out of any case;
(d) the institution or withdrawal of any prosecution at the instance of any
administrative Department; and
(e) the preparation of important contracts to be entered into by or on behalf of the
Government.
(2) Every such reference shall be accompanied by an accurate statement of the facts
of the case and the point or points on which the advice of the Law Department is
desired.
Thus in case of making any law or schemes, the Lt. Governor ought to consult the law
department which he did not do.
4.2.Administrator is competent to exercise or powers vested in him by the Govt. of NCT
of Delhi Act, 1991. The administrator functions as a delegate of the President and will
have to act under the orders of the President, i.e. the central Government. So it is very
clear that the Lt. Governor, having no power tried to make a scheme himself. The Lt.
Governor though competent to follow the rules, he did not do so because here in this
case the Council of ministers and C.M. had and opinion of consulting it further and
7
(2011) 10 SCC 1.
In the last light of the facts of the case issues raised and argument advanced, reason given and
authorities cited, this Hon’ble Supreme Court be pleased
To Maintain
To Declare
To Quash
And to grant any other relief/s that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased in the
interest of justice, equity and good conscience.