⏰➡️ Doctrine of Prospective overruling
📰 Origin-
🇺🇸 U.S.A. Supreme court in
Chevron Oil Company v. Huson, 1971
🇮🇳 Indian Supreme court-
Golaknath v. State of Punjab, 1967
(how 1971 judgment inspired 1967 judgment that I have not researched ask CJI)
✅ Meaning and Objective “The doctrine of prospective overruling is applied when a constitutional court overrules a well-established precedent by declaring a new rule but limits its application to future situations. The underlying objective is to avert injustice or hardships.”🏋️♀️
Golaknath Practical approach—
CJI K Subba Rao noted that allowing a retrospective application of the decision would
create chaos and upset the country's stability considering that many
State agrarian laws were enforced by relying on the overruled precedents.
📝
Essential Rules— (V.IMP)
1. It can only be used for matters related to the
Constitution.
💯 2. Only the Supreme Court can apply this doctrine.
3. The court can decide how far back in time the new ruling should apply.
📌 7 Object based on Precedent Analysis
1. Power derived from Article 142.
2. It is applied by this Court while overruling its earlier decision, which was otherwise final. It has also been applied when deciding on an issue for the first time.
3. The object is to validate all the actions taken before the date of declaration in the larger public interest. The doctrine does not validate an invalid law, but the declaration of invalidation takes effect from a future date.
4. Cases that have attained finality are saved because doing otherwise would cause unnecessary and avoidable hardships.
5. It is applied to bring about a
smooth transition of the operation of law without unduly affecting the rights of the people who acted upon the overruled law.
6. It is a device innovated to avoid:
(i) reopening settled issues,
(ii) refund of amounts collected under invalid legislation, and
(iii) multiplicity of proceedings.
7. It is applied to avoid social and economic disruptions and give sufficient time to the affected entities and institutions to make appropriate changes and adjustments.Mineral Area Development Authority v. M/S Steel Authority Of India & ors, 2024
@CurrentLegalGK