Constitutionalism Of Limited Government (By Vijay Kumar)
It can be concluded that
constitutionalism is a modern concept that desires a political order governed
by laws and regulations. With some exceptions most of the countries have
Constitutions but it in no way means that they practice constitutionalism. Some
of the basic principles developed over time that embody the concept of
constitutionalism are separation of powers, judicial control and accountable
government. In IR Coehlo v. State of Tamil Nadu,[1]
the Court held that Constitutionalism is a legal principle that requires
control over the exercise of governmental power to ensure that the democratic
principles on which the government is formed shall not be destroyed.
Chandrachud, CJ, in Minerva Mills case[2]
observed, “The Constitution is a precious heritage and, therefore, you cannot
destroy its identity”. The rise of a constitutional state is essentially an
historical process whose chief material is contained in the history of political
institutions coupled with the history of western political ideas right from
ancient to modern times. There are many scholars from different part of the
world who contributed to the development of concept of constitutionalism in
different phases of history.
The forces that work
against the operation of Constitutional government and the consequences of
which shake our faith in the concept of constitutionalism. The three factors
discussed in this regard are war, emergency and socio-economic collapse. The
countries have different extraordinary provisions under their respective
constitutions for war or emergency like situation, where the principle of
constitutionalism takes a back seat. Almost every established democratic
country at some point of time has suppressed the principles of
constitutionalism under extraordinary situation.
Limited government has
been understood as a concept directly related to constitutionalism. It can be
understood from the above discussion that constitutionalism means that the
Constitution of a country should contain provisions to limit the authority of
the government so that they don’t override the Constitution and act in an
arbitrary manner, which might threaten the rights of the individuals of the
country, a situation which is regularly happening in dictatorships and military
rules. Examples of limited governments are the UK, USA, India, etc. Limited
government protects the rights of the people and prevents government from
exerting extensive or total control over people's lives, actions and speech.
This can lead to increased freedom for all. But at the same time but it can
also limit the government's ability to take actions on behalf of the people. If
the government is too weak, either because of constitutional limitations or political
policies, it is possible for individuals to have their freedom restricted by
non-governmental concentrations of power.
A discussed above there
are certain important and necessary features of constitutionalism like ‘Rule of
law’, ‘Separation of power’, ‘Federalism’, Independent judiciary, etc. These
features says that the supremacy of law must be maintained, the different
institutions must perform their functions without interfering into others
domain, federal character of states must be respected and judicial bodies must
work independently without any inference from outside. The above discussions
also shows that the constitution is not the necessity for attaining the
constitutionalism. There are many countries in the world who do not have a
written constitution but it cannot be said that such countries are not having
constitutionalism. As the Supreme Court said in S.R. Chaudhuri v. State of
Punjab (2001) the mere existence of a Constitution, by itself, does not ensure
constitutionalism.
Constitutionalism, being a
vast subject cannot be confined to some principles only. Its essence is in
every nation where the government's objective is not only to rule but the
empowerment, development and equal opportunities for all. But to understand the
meaning and the importance of it, we have to analyse some pre-established
doctrines as we have seen above. By analysis of all these contentions in
support of Constitutionalism, we can consider its importance in enhancing
nation's integrity, fraternity and unity. Rule of Law, Separation of Powers are
the principles which usher our legislature and judiciary to provide us a
unique, antique and ever-updated or expedited Constitution which is the base of
the democracy which is known as the best democracy of the world. The concept of
limited government has proved to be a major advancement in protecting the
fundamental rights of the citizens from the ruling governments.