The Constitution of India was adopted on 26th November 1949 after 3 years of extensive

debates by the Constituent Assembly. As a result, this day was renamed as the 'Constitution
Day' or 'Samvidhan Diwas'.

The 1st seed of the Constitution as we have today, was sown on 31st December, 1929 at the
Lahore Session by Jawaharlal Nehru. 4 weeks later, 26th of January, 1930 was declared as
the 'Poorna Swaraj' Day. Gradually, after much efforts, under the Indian Independence Act,
1947, India obtained freedom and a Constituent Assembly was formed. Interestingly, this
Constituent Assembly which framed the Constitution was elected by provincial legislatures
under a British Act of Parliament and not through adult suffrage. It took it 2 years 11 months
and 17 days to complete the drafting. It ran in 11 Sessions divided in 165 days and out of this,
114 days were spent on consideration of the draft Constitution. The initial total membership
was 389 members which got reduced after partition to 299 members. The members of the
Assembly were distributed amongst 13 Committees which tabled a monumental 7635
amendments on the table out of which 2473 were discussed. The final draft was signed by
284 members. As per Article 394 of the Constitution, 15 Articles came into immediate effect
and rest on January 26, 1950.

Framing the Constitution was an enormous task and an even bigger duty. The Constitution
used and borrowed provisions of the Government of India Act, 1935. However, the
borrowing extended to cross border jurisdictions as well. From UK, we borrowed
Parliamentary form of Government, Single Citizenship, Rule of Law, Speaker and her duties,
Legislative Process, CAG. From the US, we borrowed Preamble, Fundamental Rights,
Judicial Review, Independence of Judiciary, Powers of the Supreme Court, Equal protection
of laws and functions of president and Vice President. From Ireland we brought Directive
Principles of State Policies, Election of President and Nomination by President to Anglo
Indians. From Canada we recruited provisions related to Residuary Power, Federal System
and Union with a strong Centre. From USSR, we had the Planning Commission (replaced by
the Niti Aayog), 5-year Plans, Fundamental Duties and the expression 'Justice' in Preamble.
From Australia we took Concurrent List and the provisions on Trade and Commerce. From
Japan (as per the advice given to Constitutional advisor, Shri B. N. Rau by Justice Felix
Frankfurter) we borrowed the expression 'except according to procedure established by law'
as against the US 'due process' clause in Article 21. From South Africa, we took the 2/3
amendment procedure and election of Rajya Sabha members. From France, we received
Republic and 'liberty, equality and fraternity'. Interestingly we also borrowed something from
Germany (Weimer Constitution) – and that is, Emergency provisions and Suppression of
Fundamental Rights.

Our written Constitution broadly comprises of Assembly debates, Constitution book and
various amendments & the Unwritten Constitution can be studied in form of 'Judicial
Principles', Doctrinal (Basic Structure, PIL etc.), Institutional (Collegium, SITs etc) and
'Constitutional Conventions'(for example, – Appointment of senior most judge as the Chief
Justice of India).

Fortunately, our written Constitution has survived several tragic attempts to dilute its
influence and the unwritten part has time and again saved democracy.

Attacks on constitutional spirit began right from 1951 when the 1st Constitutional
Amendment was passed which in a nutshell intended to evade judicial scrutiny by pushing
legislations inside the new 9th Schedule. Notably, this was passed by the same Constituent
Assembly which drafted the Constitution as the 1st Lok Sabha elections were conducted in
1952. Its primary agenda was to nullify a judgment of the Patna High Court wherein one of
the agrarian reform legislations was struck down. This, though unintended, triggered an era of
conflict over guardianship (custodianship) of the Constitution between the Parliament and the
Supreme Court.

After checking land reforms, in landmark judgments, attempts to control press by the
Parliament were quashed in Crossroads and R. C. Cooper cases. As the Government was
inserting legislations in the 9th Schedule whimsically, in 1967, in Golaknath Case the
Supreme Court held that the Parliament cannot take away Fundamental Rights and
prospectively overruled such legislations. To nullify this, in 1971, 24th & 25 th Amendments
were introduced. The 24th Amendment stipulated that the Parliament could amend any
provisions of the Constitution under Article 368. These amendments were finally partially
struck down in Keshavananda Bharati case (1973) and it was held that no amendment can be
passed which violates 'basic structure' of the Constitution. This led to attempts being made to
build a 'committed judiciary' and judges were superseded to elevate government's favoured as
CJIs. A 13-judge bench was also immediately constituted to nullify the judgment in
Keshavananda Bharati which thankfully could not completely re-hear it. However, this did
not stop the Government from nationalization of various sectors and abolition of privy purses
of erstwhile rulers. In 1975, during emergency, the 39th Amendment stating that any law
made by Parliament before its commencement shall not apply to election of President, Vice
President, Prime Minister and Speaker was passed. The Supreme Court quashed it in Indira
Gandhi v. Raj Narain.

The Government again sought to develop a 'committed judiciary' or in another sense a

'controlled judiciary' and superseded the seniority convention. In another direct attack, the
42nd Amendment was introduced during Emergency to substantially reduce the power of
judicial review of constitutional courts. A number of its provisions were thereafter removed
in 43rd & 44th amendments by the successor government & remaining ones were quashed in
Minerva Mills case (1980).

This forced judiciary to deinstitutionalize itself from being a 'legal institution' and get
transformed into a 'governing institution'. This led to advent of Public Interest Litigations and
rise of judicial activism. A plethora of cases were decided expanding the ambit of Article 21
to include various fundamental rights and environmental jurisprudence was crafted inside the
Constitution itself through judgments in T. N. Godavarman & M. C. Mehta cases. The
attempts at luring vote banks in the garb of reservations to public employment and
educational institutions however continued and Articles 15 & 16 were interpreted & amended
to nullify judgments in the Mandal case [1992], Virpal Singh Chauhan [1995] and Vinod
Kumar [1996] via the 77th, 85th and 82nd Amendments. In the most recent blow to the
Constitution an attempt to encroach upon judicial appointments was made via the 99th
Amendment to nullify judgments in 2nd & 3rd Judges cases [1993 &1998] by drafting
NJAC. This amendment was quashed in the 4th Judges case [SCOARA v UOI].

Our Constitution is like a guardian whose two sons (judiciary and legislature) are at a
constant slugfest to claim right over it. The founders thankfully inserted Articles 13 & 144
which mandate judicial review & that all three organs have to cooperate with the Supreme
Court. It is precisely because of this that the written constitution though has been erased,
rewritten and unwritten, still shines a full moon. Its greatest victory perhaps is that the
tolerance interval between 'I legislate - You quash – I legislate again' dictum has increased.