The High Court does not have the jurisdiction to interfere with the legislative competency of Parliament at a stage when a Constitution Amendment Bill is under its active consideration.

( 1 ) FOR the first time a Constitution Amendment Bill has been challenged in a High Court since the Constitution of India came into force on 26th January, 1950. The Constitution (Sixty-Fourth Amendment) Bill, 1989 (commonly known as the Panchayati Raj Bill) which has since been introduced in the Lok Sabha (the House of the People) has been challenged in a writ application. Apart from the Union of India; the Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Law and Justice; and State of West Bengal; the writ petitioner has also made the Speaker of 14 Lok Sabha, the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, the Prime Minister of India in his official capacity, and Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India his personal capacity as the parties-respondents. The writ petitioner is a man of some public importance. He was the Mayor of Calcutta for a term and was also elected to the Lok Sabha once. Naturally, he is interested the political activities and constitutional affairs of the country.

( 2 ) THE writ petitioner's case, in short, is that the Constitution (Sixty-Fourth Amendment) Bill, 1989 (hereinafter referred to as "the Bill") is an ordinary amendment of the Constitution but in fact is a manoeuvring for eroding into the foundation of the Constitution of India by legislating about the Panchayats which form an integral part of local government and includes village administration being Entry No. 5 of List-II of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. The petitioner's case that the power of Parliament to amend the Constitution and procedure therefore is conferred Article 368 in Part-XX of the Constitution. The said amending power Parliament in exercise of its constituent power has come up for judicial review before the Hon'ble Supreme Court on several occasions. This Constitution Amendment as contained in the Bill seeks to interfere with basic structure as well as the basic features of the Constitution and is against the letter and spirit of Article 40 being the Directive Principles of S Policy as contained in Part-IV of the Constitution. The said Directive does not confer any competence on Parliament either to legislate in the field of village Panchayats or to exercise its constituent power to amend Constitution by adding thereto any provision relating to the organisation of village Panchayats. Article 246 of the Constitution clearly makes provision as to the subject matter of laws to be made by Parliament and Legislatures of the States. It is further contended that the different States in India have their own legislation covering the field of Panchayats, including establishment, organisation and functioning. The State of West Bengal has also a comprehensive legislation and statutory rules covering the Panchayat system which is functioning as full-fledged unit of local self-government, and the election of different bodies of the Panchayats are held periodically. It is further contended that the provisions of the said Constitution (Sixty-Fourth Amendment) Bill purport to establish legislative and executive supremacy of the Union over the States in the matter of the village Panchayats administration as a whole. The proposed Articles 243b, 243e, 243j and 243m of the Bill make the legislative power of the State Legislature subordinate to the provisions of this constitutional amendment thereby conferring upon the Central Government and/or the Central Agencies like the Controller and Auditor-General of India and the Election Commission to interfere with the' establishment, organisation and functioning of an exclusive State subject. The Directive Principles of State Policy enshrined in the Constitution do not anywhere confer any power upon the Union Government or Parliament to legislate in the forms of a constitutional amendment over an exclusive legislature field ear-marked for operation by the State Legislature alone. If such encouragements are allowed to be made by grabbing powers of the States by the Union then such amendment