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Book Review
Constitutional law
THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA: R.S. Bedi and Rita Aryan; Orient Law House, 155, Som Datt Chamber II, 9, Bhikhaji Cama Place, New Delhi-110066. Rs. 500.
THE BEST that can be said about the book under review is found in the felicitous diction in the foreword by that young creative jurist, Abhishek Singhvi. Our Constitution is an organic document and a dynamic instrument. It is the longest charter of the world's largest democracy.
The tribute paid by Abhishek to the founding fathers is grand prose: "Amidst the wrecks and ruins of constitutional democracies and republics, which are strewn over the legal landscape of Asia, Africa and South America, the Indian Constitution shines the best and the brightest. If India can be proud of its uninterruptedly functioning constitutionalism and republicanism, it owes, to a large measure, an unqualified debt of gratitude to this document, to its letter, its spirit, its ethos and its quintessence and of course to the sagacity and wisdom of its framers who, toiled for three years to make it a living monument of what they thought was best and most apposite for India."
Indian constitutional literature does not suffer from any bibliographic famine, but what is handy without being heavy, what is useful without being profuse, what gives necessary information without wandering commentary is still a felt need. It is here that the book under review becomes a commendable addition.
We live in days of hurry and look for material, which is ready. Our Constitution has undergone 79 amendments. Each amendment act becomes luminous if accompanied instantly with the statement of objects and reasons. Few published works furnish such quick elucidation.
The present book fills the bill. Books on constitutional law contain tediously long references to case law and make reading a tiresome task.
That may be needed for a researcher but not for a classroom student or courtroom lawyer. Brief notes and mention of leading cases of the highest court relating to the relevant article will do. There are other useful factors for which the authors deserve compliment. Lucid commentary without prolix citations is a measure of elegant economy and the authors may well deserve praise for this lovely achievement.
The index to the book is useful and helps a great deal in spotting relevant law. What is most impressive is the orderly presentation of all the constitutional amendments with their statements of objects and reasons, a method never found in any other publication.
I have made references to the book on various topics and found the practical advantage of compact and concise statements with precise annotations. For a busy lawyer, the book is a happy volume of convenient brevity and necessary case law.
The volumes of Seervai and of Basu will occupy much space and lend great scholarship, but the book by Bedi and Aryan meets the daily needs of the lawyer and the teacher whose requirements are of a different nature.
V.R. KRISHNA IYER
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