The article has been written by Divya, a 1^st year law student of NLU, Vizag.

Today I was sitting in my room and reminiscing about the initial classes for Constitutional law while preparing for CLAT and Schedules was our first topic. So I thought of sharing it with you as I learned them with a really intriguing trick “TEARS OF OLD PM”.

There are 12 Schedules in our constitution and it was first mentioned in the Government of India Act, 1935 which included 10 Schedules. When the constitution was adopted, it consisted of only 8 Schedules but now we have 12 with the help of amendments.

WHAT IS SCHEDULE?

It is a part of an act that contains extra information that has not been written in the body of legislative document. It is an appendix attached to any act, supplementing the legislation with additional information that is not mentioned under the main text of the articles. It also makes make easier for reader to know about the article and the additional information concerning the article. The objective of the schedule is to make the provisions of the act less complex by separating the legal part from its additional information and  hence, also making it concise and easy to comprehend. If there was no such separation, then every time an amendment was to be made in the additional information, an amendment would be required in the article itself which is a difficult procedure. 

The schedule is utilised for a variety of purposes not only in the Indian Constitution but also in other laws. It is used to set forth the list of states and union territories, as well as a list of various topics that fall under the purview of either the state, the union, or both. Because of this, it can be used for a variety of things based on what the law requires. Schedules can also be utilised when a certain section or article needs more explanation or information in relation to the legislation’s main text.

FEATURES

Improves readability – It helps improves the ability of the reader to read and interpret the legislation more effectively. 

Vast nature of information- The schedules may contain both administrative and technical information. The subject of the schedule shouldn’t be a legal issue; rather, it should relate to the legal precepts listed in the act’s main text.

Conciseness- Schedules forms a separate part for additional information hence making the main text to act concise. 

Chronological manner- the schedules should be numbered and arranged chronologically according to the provisions of the act which address them. 

Can be of any form- The content of the schedule can be presented to the reader in a variety of ways, such as lists, graphs, flowcharts, columns, etc., making it possible to communicate the information most effectively. It is also possible to utilise different formatting techniques, including lettering and numbering, to make the material more understandable and effective.

Easily Amendable- As information under schedule are of technical nature and factual like number of languages, states etc. Hence they may require constant changes or amendments which becomes more convenient and less difficult in case of schedules as compared to main text of the act.

Schedule 1: {Territory} List contains name of states and Union territories and their territorial      

                                       Jurisdiction.          

Schedule 2: {Emoluments} Provisions relating to emoluments, allowances, privileges of:

                                             President, Governors, Speaker of Lok Sabha  and deputy speaker,  

                                             HC and SC judges, Chairman and Deputy chairman of 

                                             Legislative Councils, CAG etc.       

Schedule 3: {Affirmation} Contains forms of oath and affirmation for Union Minister of 

                                            India, Parliament Election Candidates, MPs, SC Judges, CAG,

                                           State Ministers, State Legislature Member and Elections’            

                                           Candidates, HC Judges 

Schedule 4: {Rajya Sabha} Number of seats allocated to Rajya Sabha of each state and 

                                             Union Territories.

Schedule 5: {Scheduled areas} Provision related to Scheduled areas and tribes  for their      

administration and control.

Schedule 6: {Other Scheduled Areas} It contains provision relating to administration of tribal       

                                                             areas in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and

                                                             Mizoram

Schedule 7: {Federal} The Schedule deals with the three legislative lists: Union, State and 

                                    Concurrent list.

Schedule 8: {Official Language} There are 22 official languages recognised by our  

                                                       Constitution i.e.  Assamese, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi,  

                                                      Bengali, Bodo, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili,

                                                      Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, 

                                                      Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu   

1^st Amendment Act, 1951 added the Ninth Schedule 

Schedule 9: {Land Reform} Deals with the state acts and regulations of that deal with Land    

                                          Reform and abolition of Zamindari system to prevent them from 

                                         being declared violation of the right to property which was earlier

                                        a fundamental right.  The scope of this Schedule was widened by 

                                        the court by declaring that it has a retrospective effect. 

Tenth Schedule was added by 52^nd Amendment Act, 1985 also known as Anti – Defection Law

Schedule 10;{Defection} Provisions relating to disqualification of the members of the                                 

                                         members of Parliament and State Legislatures on the ground of

                                        Defection

• If the member voluntarily gives up his seat– this phrase is not synonymous with resignation but it has a wider connotation as it can also mean that even in absence of resignation an inference can be drawn to mean that the member has voluntarily given up his seat.
• voting/abstention from voting against the party– The members can be disqualified if they don’t vote at all or votes against the will of the party but in certain cases, even the honest opposers and bonafide objectors may also suffer disqualifications so the courts must identify the scope of the disqualification in such cases as per the facts of each case.

However, the schedule also lays down certain exemptions from the disqualifications such as

• In case of mergers- a member of the house shall not be disqualified where the original party merges with another political party and the members of the original party either joins the new political party or opted to function as separate.
• In case if at least 1/3rd members of the party decide to leave the original political party which is considered a split cannot be disqualified as it is based on premise that when there is a majority of members defecting a political party then these members cannot be disqualified.

Eleventh Schedule was added by 73^rd Amendment Act, 1992

Schedule 11:{Panchayat} Contains the provisions that specify the powers, authority and

                                          responsibilities of Panchayats and it has 29 matters.

The last Schedule was added by 74^th Amendment Act, 1992

Schedule 12:{Municipalities} Deals with provisions that specify the powers, authority and 

                                                Responsibilities of Municipalities and it contains 18 matters.

CONCLUSION

Schedules are employed for a variety of purposes in various pieces of legislation because they play a key part in bringing clarity and conciseness to the law. In the case of schedule 9 of the constitution, it was created to protect land reforms to abolish the zamindari system, but later, the parliamentarians abused their power and added more than 282 laws that were unrelated to land reforms, giving broad protection to every act they deemed necessary in accordance with their will. This is an example of how schedules can be misused.

However, the apex court was vigilant enough to ensure that the law-making body is not misusing their powers by putting a check on them through its judgment of Kesavananda Bharati. Apart from this, schedule 10 discussed above was also a good law but still needed some changes as it had certain loopholes.

Hence the duty of courts and the lawmakers are not only to form schedules but to review it’s subject matter so that doesn’t create any problem.

REFERENCE 

http://www.ownguru.com/blog/schedules-of-the-indian-constitution/

Aishwarya Says:

Law students often face problems, which they cannot share with their friends and families. We have started a column on our website Student’s Corner. In this column we are talking to several law students about the challenges that they face. Students who are interested in participating in the same, can fill this Google Form.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING IN THE SAME, DO LET ME KNOW.

The copyright of this Article belongs exclusively to Ms. Aishwarya Sandeep. Reproduction of the same, without permission will amount to Copyright Infringement. Appropriate Legal Action under the Indian Laws will be taken.

If you would also like to contribute to my website, then do share your articles or poems to aishwarya@aishwaryasandeep.com

Join our  Whatsapp Group for latest Job Opening