97th constitution amendment act - challenged
The 97th amendment with regard to promotion of cooperatives by the state government was passed by Parliament in December last year. It received presidential assent in January this year, and was published in Gazette of India and came into effect from February 15.
The PIL Vishwas and Masoom Shah stated, "The constitution amendment is not required as eventually it legislates and encroaches on the occupied field of state legislation. Thus it's a patent case of transgression of constitutional power."
The Constitution Amendments Act cannot be used as a device to indirectly legislate the State Entry, when it is directly prohibited, they argued. The PIL further alleged that the 97th Amendment violates the procedure as laid down in article 368 (2) of the Constitution.
"According to the Proviso of the Article 368, if Parliament intents to amend or delete any lists in the Seventh Schedule, such an amendment shall require to be ratified by the legislatures of not less than one half of the states by resolution to the effect passed by those legislatures beforethe Bill making provision for such amendment
is presented to the President for assent," the PIL reads, adding, "Therefore, for amending or deleting any Lists of Seven Schedule ratification of state legislative is unavoidable... and is a basic requirement."
After hearing the case, a bench of chief justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and justice J B Pardiwala sought answers from the highest legal officer of the Centre and scheduled a further hearing three weeks later. 
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad
