CRITIVISM OF THE AMENDMENT PROCEDURE

The following provisions can be amended in this way:

1.       Election of the President and its manner.

2.       Extent of the executive power of the Union and the states.

3.       Supreme Court and high courts.

4.       Distribution of legislative powers between the Union and the states.

5.       Any of the lists in the Seventh Schedule.

6.       Representation of states in Parliament.

7.       Power of Parliament to amended the Constitution and its procedure (Article 368 itself).

CRITIVISM OF THE AMENDMENT PROCEDURE

Critics have criticized the amendment procedure of the Constitution on the following ground.

1.       There is no provision for a special body like Constitutional Convention (as in USA) or Constitutional Assembly for amending the Constitution. The constituent power is vested in the Parliament and only in few cases, in the state legislatures.

2.       The power to initiate an amendment to the Constitution lies with the Parliament. Hence, unlike in USA ⁴, the state legislatures cannot initiate any bill or proposal for amending the Constitution except in one case that is, passing a resolution requesting the Parliament for the creation or abolition of legislative councils in the state. Here also, the Parliament can either approve or disapprove such a resolution or may not take any action on it.

3.       Major part of the Constitution can be amended by the parliament alone either by a special majority or by a simple majority. Only in few cases, the consent of the state legislatures is required and that too, only half of them, while in USA, it is three – fourths’ of the states.

4.       The Constitution does not prescribe the time frame within which the state legislatures should ratify or reject an amendment submitted to them. Also, it is silent on the issue whether the states can withdraw their approval after according the same.

5.       There is no provision for holding a joint sitting of both the Houses of Parliament if there is a deadlock over the passage of a constitutional amendment bill. On the other hand, a provision for a joint sitting is made in the case of an ordinary bill.

6.       The process of amendment is similar to that of a legislative process. Except for the special majority. The constitutional amendment bills are to be passed by the Parliament in the same way as ordinary bills.

7.       The provisions relating to the amendment procedure are too sketchy. Hence, they leave a wide scope for taking the matters to the judiciary.