Power of Parliament to Make Law on Appointments (Struck Down)
Official heading: “Power of Parliament to make law”
Part of the 99th Amendment invalidated by the Supreme Court.
- Source edition
- The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2026)
- Source locator
- Part V, Article 124C, printed page 59
- Last human source-link check
- Not yet checked
- Last human legal review
- Not yet reviewed
AI-assisted source comparisons are noted with the citations below; the check date remains pending until a human confirms the link. The report link opens your email app; you choose whether to send it.
1. In One Sentence
Article 124C empowered Parliament to regulate the procedure of the NJAC by law, and was invalidated along with the rest of the 99th Amendment in 2015.
2. What It Means in Everyday Language
Article 124C was designed to authorize Parliament to enact legislation regulating the procedure for appointing judges and empowering the Commission to formulate regulations for its internal functioning.
It served as the constitutional anchor for the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014 (Act 40 of 2014).
Because the 99th Constitutional Amendment was struck down by the Supreme Court in the Fourth Judges Case (SCAORA, 2016), Article 124C and the companion NJAC Act were declared unconstitutional in their entirety.
Parliament does not possess legislative authority to alter the consultative primacy of the judiciary in judicial appointments without violating the basic structure.
3. Practical Illustrative Example
A citizen asks whether Parliament can pass a simple statutory law laying down binding evaluation scores for selecting Supreme Court judges.
4. Important Limits, Qualifications & Exceptions
Article 124C is an unconstitutional provision intended to provide statutory regulation over judicial appointments.
- Authorized statutory procedure for judicial selection.
- Struck down as incompatible with judicial independence.
- Reinforces that judicial appointment primacy cannot be undermined by ordinary legislation.
5. Historical constitutional wording — not operative
6. Sources & Historical Assembly Deliberations
Assembly quotations are withheld until wording, dates, and attribution have been checked against the primary record.
- •Government of India (Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice) • Part V, Article 124C, printed page 59 • Human source-link check pending
Primary PDF accessed and transcribed with AI assistance on 14 October 2026. Formatting and amendment annotation markers are omitted; operative wording is retained. This is not human legal review. Later amendments and commencement notifications have not been comprehensively checked.