CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, PATNA

ROUGH DRAFT SUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE

COURSE TITLED-
CONSTITUTION LAW II
“A Critique of Swaran Singh Vs state of U.P.”
SUBMITTED TO: -
Prof. Anirudh prasad
Faculty of the subject Constitution Law II

SUBMITTED BY: -

ABHISHEK KUMAR

SICTH SEMESTER

ROLL NO:- 1808

B.B.A., LL.B. (HONS)

INTRODUCTION

Article 161 of the Constitution of India confers on The Governor of a State shall have the power
to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or
commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence against any law relating to a
matter to which the executive power of the State extends

However the orders if any are subject to Judicial Review as per the following Supreme Court
decisions.

In Swaran Singh v State of U.P. a three-Judge Bench held that "this Court has no power to touch
the order passed by the Governor under Article 161 of the Constitution. If such power was
exercised arbitrarily, mala fide or in absolute disregard of the finer canons of the
constitutionalism, the by-product order cannot get the approval of law and in such cases, the
judicial hand must be stretched to it." The Governor of U.P. had granted remission of life
sentence awarded to the Minister of the State Legislature of Assembly convicted for the offence
of murder. The Supreme Court interdicted the Governor’s order and said that it is true that it has
no power to touch the order passed by the Governor under Article 161, but if such power has
been exercised arbitrarily, mala fide or in absolute disregard of the “finer cannons of
constitutionalism”, such order cannot get approval of law and in such cases, “the judicial hand
must be stretched to it.” The Court held the order of Governor arbitrary and, hence, needed to be
interdicted.
HYPOTHESIS
The researcher presumes that power granted to governor under article 161 can’t be questioned
ordinarily.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The researcher followed doctrinal method of research to complete the project.
AIM AND OBJECTIVE
The project aims to study the judgement and case of swaran singh vs. state of u.p.

SOURCES OF DATA
1. The researcher relied on secondary sources to complete the project.
2. Secondary sources include all the books and websites related to the topic.

LIMITATIONS:
The researcher has territorial and time limitations.

TENTATIVE CHAPTERIZATION:

Chapter 1: - introduction.
Chapter 2: - Facts of the case.
Chapter 3: - Powers of governor under article 161 and his other powers.
Chapter 4: - Judgement of the case.
Chapter 5: - conclusion and suggestion
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PRIMERY SOURCE
1) Constitution of India
2) Swaran Singh v. state of U.P.

SECONDRY SOURCES
1) Introduction to the Constitution of India Book by Durga Das Basu

2) The Indian constitution Book by Granville Austin

Websites
www.academia.in
www.wiki.uk.in