P.V.JEEVESH Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this public interest litigation filed by a practising lawyer of this Court, the following reliefs are sought;

(2.) The parliament enacted The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and The Bharathiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. These enactments came into effect from 1/7/2024. Title of these legislations though are described in English but the words are not from the English language. The question is whether these legislations are in violation of Article 348(1)(ii) of the Constitution of India. Article 348 of the Constitution of India mandates the following;

(3.) What is the meaning of 'authoritative text' as referred to in Article 348 1(b) of the Constitution of India? The text of this enactment is in English. Here, the text means content. Authoritative is used as an adjective to indicate that the quality of the text or content must be in English. Although the title of a legislation is often used to understand the text and is treated as integral to the text, it cannot be construed as an authoritative text as understood in Article 348 of the Constitution of India. Nomenclature is nothing but title of the legislation and cannot be considered as the text referred to in Article 348 of the Constitution of India.