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Doctrine of Pith and Substance- 'The' Metaphor

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Doctrine of Pith and Substance- 'The' Metaphor © 2020 IJRAR March 2020, Volume 7, Issue 1 www.ijrar.org (E-ISSN 2348-1269, P- ISSN 2349-5138) DOCTRINE OF PITH AND - ‘THE’ METAPHOR K. Ankita Rao, Shelal Lodhi Rajput Student (2nd Year), Student (1st Year) Symbiosis Law School, Pune, India I. ABSTRACT The paper majorly focuses on the doctrine of ‘pith and substance’ as applied in India. The major area of research in the paper is the analysis of the application of the doctrine as compared to other countries with a similar federal structure as of India and a thorough analysis of the application and evolution of the doctrine in India. The paper talks not only about how the doctrine is applied to the Indian context but also about the loopholes in the applicability of the same. the paper analyses major case laws in which the doctrine has been used. It also provides a link between the doctrine of ‘pith and substance’ with some other doctrines such as the doctrine of colorable legislation and the doctrine of incidental encroachment. It provides for the recommendations of the author suggesting better ways to apply the doctrine in the present-day scenario. The paper ends with three literature reviews that have been used for the purpose of research by the author. Index Terms- Pith and substance, form and substance, federal, repugnancy, competence, incidental encroachment, Constitution, comparative study, colorable legislation. Citation Format- 20th Bluebook citation II. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE The objectives of the research paper are- 1) To understand the difference in the applicability of the doctrine of ‘pith and substance’ in India and different countries with a similar constitutional set up- For this purpose, comparison has been made with applicability in Canada and in Australia. 2) Identify loopholes in the applicability of the doctrine in Indian context- For this purpose, a critical analysis of the case laws relating to the doctrine has been provided. III. RESEARCH GAP The research gap in most of the literatures provided on the topic is the lack of understanding in the difference of the applicability of the doctrine in different countries with a similar constitutional set up. Another gap is the lack of analysis of the misuse or misinterpretation of the doctrine and ways to set off such misuse. IV. INTRODUCTION Doctrine of ‘pith and substance’ is an age-old rule used in constitutional matters in India. The literal meaning of pith is the true nature or the essence of something and that of substance is an essential part or something. Thus, pith and substance together can be understood as an essential part of something in which its true essence lies. The doctrine of ‘pith and substance’ says that where the question is about determining the power of legislature to make a particular law under the three lists, what the court must look into is the substance of the same. thus, the doctrine is used when the competence of the legislature is to be determined in relation to a particular enactment and what has to be looked into is the substance of the enactment. If it is found that the legislation is in substance on the matter assigned to the legislature then the enactment must be held to be valid completely. It may so happen that the enactment incidentally encroaches upon the matter beyond the competence of a particular legislature, but such encroachments do not render the whole enactment to be a nullity. The legislative matters that are given under different lists are bound to overlap at some point but that does not make the whole enactment null and void. Thus, it can be concluded that incidental encroachments are permissible while determining the competence of the legislatures as far as the subject matters in the three lists are concerned. IJRAR2001996 International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews (IJRAR) www.ijrar.org 948 © 2020 IJRAR March 2020, Volume 7, Issue 1 www.ijrar.org (E-ISSN 2348-1269, P- ISSN 2349-5138) V. EVOLUTION OF THE DOCTRINE The doctrine of pith and substance was recognized for the very first time in Canada. Canada does not only have a common constitutional arrangement with India but also the cases in Canada went up to the privy council for the final appeal. Just like India has the center and state legislatures, Canada is divided as the Dominion and the Provinces. Although the first great model of federalism i.e. Australia had only one list and that too a short one, Canadian constitution makers went to add two lists in the Constitution of Canada. The constitution of Canada was initially enacted as the British North America Act,1857. Section 69 clearly bifurcated the powers given to the dominion and that given to the provinces. Section 91 of the act described the powers given exclusively to the Dominion while section 92 of the act described the powers given exclusively to the Provinces. It was emphasized that none of the two act or encroach upon other’s powers to make laws under the sections of the British North American Act,1857. This meant that the dominion could not act upon the area of the provinces and vice versa. Although, emphasis was laid for a clear distribution in the powers of the two yet inevitably the descriptions of the legislative fields provided in both the sections would often overlap. Thus, a statute when made looked as if it was acted encroaching upon the powers of the other. A provision made by one if really encroached upon the powers of the other, then it was invalid. The major question to be answered here is what was in real sense a field that belonged to either the province or the dominion as mentioned in section 91 and 92 of the Act. It was then that the Privy Council came up with a solution to the question (judicial decisions in Canada were subject to final appeal to the privy council back then). The Privy Council suggested that the ‘true nature and character’ of the legislation must be looked into while deciding upon the competence of the legislature. In 1899, Lord Watson captured the same into a metaphor while speaking for the privy council that the order was to identify the ‘whole pith and substance of the enactment.’1 The phrase is used in Canada even today. The doctrine has also been used in India time and again. Lord Porter in Prafulla Kumar Mukherjee v. Bank of Commerce Ltd. said that “what is pith and substance is the effect of the enactment of which complaint is made and in what list is its true nature and character to be found.”2 Thus, the doctrine though emerged in Canada but is also applicable to India due to the similarities between both the countries. VI. DOCTRINE OF ‘PITH AND SUBSTANCE’ IN INDIA India is a country with a very rigid text in the Constitution of the country. India has had three lists with a very clear demarcation of the subjects on which the central legislature can make laws since the very beginning. The demarcation was first made in the Government of India Act, 1835 and then in the Constitution of India 1949. Earlier under section 100 of the Government of India Act,1835 and then under Article 246 of the Constitution of India the three lists were arranged in a rather rigid manner. The powers given under the federal list are exclusively and notwithstanding anything in the other two lists while the powers given under the concurrent list can be exercised wither by the union or the states but are subject to the powers given under the federal list. The powers given in the state list on the other hand are subject to the powers given under the Federal list. Although such an arrangement left almost no room for one of the legislatures to encroach upon the powers of the other, in an arrangement such as of India, incidental encroachment is bound to happen in certain cases when the laws are being made under one of the lists. When such an encroachment takes place, the doctrine of pith and substance comes into play and the courts are to decide whether the enactment is intra vires or ultra vires in nature. If the enactment happens to be intra vires, then the enactment is to be declared valid but if the enactment happens to be ultra vires that it is bound to be declared invalid. Under the Government of India Act,1935 although the argument was that, the demarcation in powers provided under Section 100 of the Act is so rigid that there is no possibility of overlap between the powers in the lists and therefore the doctrine of pith and substance need not be applied in any case and the provincial list is superior, the argument was condemned by Lord Porter speaking for the privy council. 3 1 Union Colliery company of British Columbia v. Bryden, [1899] AC 580, at 587 2 Prafulla Kumar Mukherjee v. Bank of Commerce Ltd, AIR 1947 PC 60 3 Prafulla Kumar Mukherjee v. Bank of Commerce Ltd, AIR 1947 PC 60 IJRAR2001996 International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews (IJRAR) www.ijrar.org 949 © 2020 IJRAR March 2020, Volume 7, Issue 1 www.ijrar.org (E-ISSN 2348-1269, P- ISSN 2349-5138) VII.COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE DOCTRINE WITH RESPECT TO CONSTITUTIONS OF OTHER COUNTRIES While the doctrine of ‘pith and substance’ is used in Australia to maintain a rigidity in their extremely flexible written constitution, in India the doctrine is used to provide flexibility to the very rigid written constitution. While Australia has only one list, Canada has two and India has three to apply the doctrine to.
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