Mathews J Nedumpara.

98205 35428

1st March 2026

The Supreme Court created the collegium system where judges appoint themselves—nay, anoint their kith and kin as judges—and also struck down the NJAC on the ground that the independence of the judiciary is a basic structure and that any system of appointment in which judges do not have the absolute say in appointments is violative of the basic structure of India’s Constitution. But the folly of the basic structure theory can be unravelled in just three sentences as follows:

Sentence No. 1:

Before Kesavananda Bharati, whenever a litigant invoked the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution, the judges would ask which fundamental right of his had been infringed, for no petition would lie without a specific plea of violation of fundamental rights.

Sentence No. 2:

After Kesavananda Bharati, the elite lobby of lawyers in Delhi would invoke Article 32 asserting that none of their fundamental rights were infringed, but that the basic structure was infringed.

Sentence No. 3:

The judges of the Supreme Court are expected to ask, as they would have invariably done: how does it matter if the basic structure is infringed when it does not entail a violation of fundamental rights? And if your real grievance is that your fundamental rights—nay, even legal rights—are infringed, why don’t you say that instead of claiming a violation of the basic structure, which is a vague idea and does not mean violation of fundamental or legal rights?

Post Script

The basic structure theory is contrary to elementary principles of jurisprudence, namely ubi jus ibi remedium—that is, where there is a right, the law will provide a remedy—and the necessary corollary thereof, namely, where there is no infringement of fundamental or legal rights, the law will not provide any remedy. The basic structure theory is a fraud on the Constitution intended to subdue Parliament and install judgeocracy to suit the vested interests of a few dynasties of lawyers and litigants. This stupid theory is hailed as the North Star by these dynasties and taught in law colleges as gospel truth. Unless we expose this fraud on the Constitution and restore the NJAC, India will be ruled by a few families of elite lawyers and judges who will suppress dissent by abusing the power of contempt. Even a Prime Minister of Modi’s stature had to go the extra mile to soothe the feelings of the judges, as witnessed in the recent row over the mention of corruption in the judiciary in the NCERT textbook for Class 8.

Appeal

Kindly forward this article to all your friends, colleagues, and WhatsApp groups so that the people of this country come to know of the folly of the basic structure doctrine, which is being used as a weapon by the dynasties of elite lawyers and judges to usurp power.