Constitutional Miscellany

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Description
The Constitution of India is a great document whose meaning is so dynamic that new dimensions unfold themselves as time passes and zigzag developments overtake society. Inevitably, thoughts on the Constitution do not stand still because the dialectic of each period imparts fresh interpretation in the light of social change. The hermeneutics of constitutional construction must therefore be regarded as a progressive re- reading of the Paramount Parchment. When I wrote random articles loosely related to the Constitution they were collected together and published as 'A Constitutional Miscellany'. Decades have passed since and many ideas have suffered mutation. Fresh vistas have opened and new challenges have appeared. My responses to these novel socio-economic and jural metamorphoses have been expressed in the shape of articles updated in thought and assuming new shapes tuned to the radical desiderata. Naturally when old views seek revision and new views seek expression a second edition is an obvious product. Not because of any inconsistency in my thinking but because of noetic advances provoked by social developments. So it is that the publishers suggested to me whether I would welcome a second edition since the first had been sold out and to a little extent dated. I gladly agreed and embellished the old volume with a few fresh new essays. On the whole, the book is different while it retains its original content. The best judge is the reader and I leave it to him to give his verdict after patiently paging through the additional chapters.
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Contents
Chapter I     : Basic Structure Doctrine and Constitutional Governance
Chapter II    : Totalitarian Treaty Power and Constitutional Control Jurisprudence
Chapter III   : Governor's Reign and President's Rule
Chapter IV   : Centre-State Relations
Chapter V    : Inter-State Council (Article 263)
Chapter VI   : Indian Law Commission
Chapter VII  : No, Mr Speaker
Chapter VIII : Nationalism v. Sub-Nationalism: A Creative Case for Dynamic Synthesis
Chapter IX   : Electoral Reform in India
Chapter X    : The Human Rights Flag atop Prison Towers: A Radical Judicial-Medical Conspiracy to
                        Rescue Man from his Cage
Chapter XI   : Adversarial Praxis Vis-A-Vis Social Justice
Chapter XII  : Union Carbide's "Bhoposhima" and Indian Justice in Somno-Coma
Chapter XIII : Constitutionally Inscribed Social Justice and Operationally Opposite Agenda in Practice
Chapter XIV : Judiciary-A Reform Agenda
SUBJECT INDEX
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Author Details
Shri V.R. Krishna lyer is, to borrow a Supreme Court idiom, one of those "rarest of rare" individuals who combines activism with restraint, politics with dignity, scholarship with humanism and service with humility. An able lawyer, an astute legislator, an ardent law reformer, a dynamic Minister in government, and activist Judge who perfected judicial craftsmanship to meet social justice and human rights goals, a prolific writer and great lover of sports, animals, books and travel. Justice lyer is indeed a role model to many in law, politics and social work. Born in November 1915, in Malabar (Kerala) and educated in Annamalai and Madras Universities, Krishna lyer practiced law and gained popularity and early success. He was elected to the Madras legislature (1952) and later to the Kerala Legislature (1957) where he held, with signal success, important portfolios like Home, Law, Prisons, Electricity and Irrigation.