The Constitution of India being written constitutes the fundamental law of the land. This has several significant implications. It is under this fundamental law that all laws are made and executed, all governmental authorities act and the validity of their functioning adjudged. No legislature can make a law, and no governmental agency can act, contrary to the Constitution. No act of executive, legislature, judicial or quasi-judicial, of any administrative agency can stand if contrary to the Constitution. The Constitution thus conditions the whole governmental process in the country.
The Constitution is the supreme law of the land because it sets the parameter to determine which law is valid and which one is not, in addition to the fact that it determines how political power is organized and exercised. Without such parameter, different laws would incorporate different values and purposes that may contradict each other.
The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India. It lays down the framework defining fundamental political principles, establishes the structure, procedures, powers and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental rights, directive principles and the duties of citizens. It is the longest written constitution of any sovereign country in the world. B. R. Ambedkar, the chairman of the Drafting Committee, is widely considered to be its chief architect.
It imparts constitutional supremacy and not parliamentary supremacy, as it is not created by the Parliament but, by a constituent assembly, and adopted by its people, with a declaration in its preamble. Parliament cannot override the constitution.
A Constitution is a document of people’s faith and aspirations possessing a special legal sanctity and all other laws and customs of a country in order to be legally valid shall conform to the Constitution. It sets out the framework and the principal functions of the three organs of govt., viz., Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. It prescribes the extent of sovereign powers of the organs of govt. and the manner of its exercise.
In the words of Sir Ivor Jennings, “All the Constitutions are the heirs of the past as well as the testators of the future.”
Make no mistake, it is the Constitution which is supreme in India and NOT Parliament and Constitution is the source of power for the three organs of govt.
