Provisions Under Article 142
Context:
- Recently A G Perarivalan who was convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case has been released and this has brought back Article 142 into picture.
What does the article say?
- Article 142 of the Constitution of India provides a special and extraordinary power to the Supreme Court to do complete justice to the litigants who have suffered traversed illegality or injustice in the proceedings.
- The constitution provides this power to the Supreme Court to extend its jurisdiction throughout the territory of India and pass such orders.
History:
- The framers of the constitution gave utmost importance to this article and felt it was necessary to secure justice to the citizens who were in the disadvantaged position in the judicial system.
- They felt that natural justice is above the law and Supreme Court has been given this power which is above the law considering that it issues orders which are just.
- Therefore Supreme Court is given with unlimited powers in order to deliver justice.
When has this been invoked?
- The Supreme Court has invoked this article earlier in some high profile cases such as 1989 Union Carbide case and the 2019 Ayodhya Ram Mandir verdict.
- In the Union Carbide case the Supreme court used its extraordinary powers to get the US-based Union Carbide Corporation to pay $470 million to the victims of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
Source The Hindu
