Some provisions of the 97th amendment unconstitutional: HC

The Gujarat High Court (HC) on Monday declared certain provisions of the 97th amendment to the Constitution of India that enabled the Central government to enact laws related to co-operative societies as unconstitutional.

The ruling,by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B Pardiwala,came on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by one Rajendra Shah. Shah’s lawyer Masoom Shah said,“We had contended that co-operative is a state subject under the separation of powers in the Constitution and that the amendment violated the federal structure of the country while giving powers to the Centre to enact laws in a state subject. The court accepted our argument and declared certain provisions of the 97th amendment as unconstitutional.”