Constitution of India1950
Articles 12-35 (Fundamental Rights), 226 and 32 (writ jurisdiction), 14, 19, 21 (substantive doctrines).
Practice area · Indian legal practice
Constitutional Law
Article 226 / 32 writs, fundamental rights, judicial review.
Constitutional practice covers writ petitions under Article 226 (High Courts) and Article 32 (Supreme Court), Public Interest Litigation, and challenges to legislative or executive action on fundamental-rights or federal grounds. Bench composition is typically Division Bench (Article 226) or larger Constitution Bench (Article 32 substantive matters).
Key statutes
Specific Relief Act1963
Often invoked alongside writ jurisdiction.
Judicial Independence — collegium and NJAC jurisprudence
Driven by Supreme Court precedent (Second/Third Judges, NJAC judgments).
Primary forums
- High Courts — writ petitions under Article 226
- Supreme Court of India — writ petitions under Article 32, transfer petitions, SLPs
- Supreme Court Constitution Benches — for substantial questions of constitutional interpretation
Common matters
- Writ petitions challenging executive action / orders
- PIL on environmental, governance, or rights issues
- Challenges to state-action on Article 14 / 19 / 21 grounds
- Challenges to subordinate legislation
- Service-law writ petitions (DPC, promotion, dismissal)
- Habeas corpus petitions
Limitation periods
Article 226 and 32 petitions have no statutory limitation but the doctrine of latches applies — significant unexplained delay is a ground for refusal of relief. Service matters typically require filing within a "reasonable time" of the impugned order; 6 months is conventionally treated as the outer bound.
CourtNetra workflow for constitutional law
Writ petitions in CourtNetra carry the constitutional-ground tag (14/19/21 etc.) for cross-referencing. NyayaLens AI surfaces precedent on relevant fundamental-rights tests — Maneka Gandhi, Puttaswamy, Anuradha Bhasin — with verified citations. PIL records are tagged separately for CSR / impact-litigation tracking.
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