PYQ Vault · Paper 1 · Organs of Government
Judiciary has acquired the role of both, a legislature and an executive in recent years. Examine with suitable examples.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
R1 Core judicial role = adjudication + constitutional review, not law- making /administration → but Arts 32, 226, 136, 142 + PIL pull courts into both → filling gaps or replacing elected branches? R2 Claim partly real → judiciary has stepped into legislative + executive space → where does activism end and overreach begin?
Body flow
Legislature side: Vishaka guidelines = binding law till the 2013 Act → Article 142 directions (khap panchayats, firecrackers) read like statutes → Unnikrishnan / Mohini Jain expand Art 21 to education → courts doing legislation’s work. Executive side: Prakash Singh enters police-reform domain → M.C. Mehta pollution standards, forest governance, 2G → continuing mandamus = sustained supervision, court acts like executive
Counter-view
Baxi defends activism as social justice (chemotherapy of carcinogenic politics) vs Pratap Bhanu Mehta (courts as political institutions, basic structure expands power) + Shunmugasundaram (judges # legislators/administrators) → democratic deficit: unelected, no policy accountability
Conclusion routes
R1 Claim partly true → courts entered both domains, but mainly where elected branches defaulted R2 Activism legitimate when it protects rights / fills gaps → overreach when judges replace, not prompt, legislature/executive
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
