Supreme Court struck down Constitution 97th Amendment with respect to Co-operative Societies, upheld for Multi State Cooperative Societies

The Hon'ble Supreme Court stated that Co-operative societies as a subject matter belongs wholly and exclusively to the State legislatures to legislate upon, whereas multi-state co-operative societies i.e. co-operative societies having objects not confined to one state alone, is exclusively within the ken of Parliament. The Hon'ble Supreme Court observed if the subject matter of a constitutional amendment falls within the proviso to Article 368(2), such amendment shall also be required to be ratified by the legislatures of not less than one half of the States by resolution to that effect passed by those legislatures before the bill making provision for such amendment is presented to the President for assent.

The Hon'ble Supreme Court held that provisions relating to Article 240ZI to Article 243ZQ abd Article 243ZT being unconstitutional for non-compliance, with the mandate of the proviso to Article 368(2) of the Constitution of India. In a lengthy judgement, the Full Bench by majority judgement upheld the judgement of the High Court except to the extent that it struck down the entirety of Part IXB of the Constitution of India. The Hon'ble Supreme Court declared that Part IXB of the Constitution of India is operative only insofar as it concerns multi-State co-operative societies both within the various States and in the Union territories of India.

Author's Bio:

The article is contributed by Advocate Gajanan V. Khare, Mumbai who is Past Associate Editor of Sales Tax Review Magazine. He specialises in Direct & Indirect Taxation and Constitutional Law. He can be reached by mobile at: 09892291545 or  by e-mail at: gajanan_khare@yahoo.com