TAMIL NADU NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

(A University established under the Tamil Nadu Act No. 9 of 2012)

Dindigul Main Road, Navalur Kuttapattu
Tiruchirappalli 620 027
Tamil Nadu, India

B.A. LL.B. (H) / B.COM. LL.B. (H)

COURSE SYLLABUS

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW II

Course Objectives

 To familiarize students with the constitutional design of the government.

 To develop a critical perspective towards the functioning of the government and its
organs, their limit and scope.
 To enhance the ability to identify constitutional issues in day to day governance
mechanism.
 To develop an analytical approach through case laws and recent developments.

Learning Outcomes

● Students should haveclarity on the working of the Indian Constitution vis-à-vis

constitutional structures.
● Have clarity on the legislative process that they are in a position to appreciate and
critique legislation not only on its contents but on the processual justice of its making.
● Must have developed clarity about the judicial institution that they are aware of its
potential and limits. They should also be in a position to understand the institution which
they might be dealing with on a daily basis.
● They should have developed an insight into the constitutional institutions that they are
able to utilize them in their future avocation related to law or policymaking.

Teaching Methods

● Lecture based on pre-distributed/announced reading material. The lectures are designed

to be interactive with inputs from the reading materials.
● Case studies of experiences of the working of the Constitution.
● Judgment analysis and presentation by the students.
● Debates, quizzes and group discussion on contested aspects of constitutional law.

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Union & State Executive MODULE 1

1. Theory of Separation of Powers

2. Nature of Indian Federalism
3. The Union Executive
3.1. The President - Qualifications, Election, Impeachment, Presidential Privileges
3.2. The Vice President
3.3. The Council of Ministers
3.4. Functions & Powers of the Executive - Pardoning Power, Ordinance Making
Power
4. The State Executive
4.1. The Governor -Appointment, Powers, Functions & Privileges
4.2. Discretionary Powers, Pardoning Power, Ordinance Making Power
4.3. Relationship of the President/Governor with the Council of Ministers

Parliament & State Legislature MODULE 2

1. Parliamentary Form of Government

2. Composition of Parliament & State Legislatures
3. Functions & Privileges
4. Interrelation of the Houses in Parliament & State Legislatures
5. Anti-Defection Law
6. Local Self Government - Village Panchayats, Municipal Bodies

Centre-State Relationship MODULE 3

1. Centre-State Legislative Relationship

2. Interpretation of Lists
3. Distribution of Legislative Power
4. Residuary Power
5. Centre-State Financial Relationship
6. Taxation Powers
7. Centre-State Administrative Relationship

Union & State Judiciary MODULE 4

1. Union Judiciary - Composition, Appointment, Conditions of Services, Removal of

Judges
2. State Judiciary - Composition, Appointment, Conditions of Services, Removal of Judges
3. NJAC

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 4. Independence of Judiciary
5. Jurisdiction of Courts - Judicial Review & Judicial Activism

Emergency Provisions & Other Miscellaneous Provisions

MODULE 5

1. Emergency Provisions
2. Freedom of Trade & Commerce
3. Services Under the Union & State
4. Doctrine of Pleasure
5. Constitutional Safeguards to Government Servants
6. Public Service Commission
7. Election Commission
8. Comptroller and Auditor General
9. Other Constitutional Bodies

Essential Readings

1. MP Jain, Indian Constitutional Law (LexisNexis 2014)

2. MP Singh (ed), VN Shukla’s Constitution of India (EBC 2016)
3. DD Basu, Commentary on the Constitution of India (LexisNexis 2014)
4. HM Seervai, Constitutional Law of India (Universal Law Publishing 2012)
5. Granville Austin, Constitutional Law of India: Cornerstone of a Nation (OUP 1966)
6. Punchhi Commission - Report of the Commission on Centre-State Relations, 2010
7. Report of the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution, 2002
8. Sarkaria Commission - Report of the Commission on Centre-State Relations, 1987

Suggested Readings

1. A Bhuwania, ‘Courting the People: The Rise of Public Interest Litigation in Post-
Emergency India’ [2014] 34(2) Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle
East
2. AG Noorani, ‘Ordinance Raj’ [1998] 33(50) EPW 12
3. AG Noorani, ‘Supreme Court and Ordinances’ [1987] 22(9) EPW
4. K Ramnath, ‘ADM Jabalpur’s Antecedents: Political Emergencies, Civil Liberties and
Arguments from Colonial Continuities in India’ [2016] 31(2) American University
International Law Review
5. MP Singh, ‘Federalism, democracy and Human Rights: Some Reflections’ [2005] 47(4)
Journal of the Indian Law Institute
6. Nani A Palkhivala, We the Nation: the Lost Decades (UBS Publishers 1997)
7. Pradeep Sachdeva, ‘Combating Political Corruption: A Critique of Anti-Defection
Legislations’ [1989] 50(2) Indian Journal of Political Science
8. S Swaminathan, ‘The Conflicting between Freedom of the Press and Parliamentary
Privileges: An Unfamiliar Twist in a Familiar Tale [2010] 22(1) NLSIR

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 9. SV Kogekar, ‘Indian Speakers and Party Politics’ [1939] 1(1) Indian Journal of Political
Science
10. Tarunabh Khaitan, ‘Reforming the Pre-Legislative Process’ [2011] 46(25) EPW 18

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