Question

Recently, the Supreme Court in Puttaswamy (Privacy case) and Aadhar judgement has used ‘Doctrine of Proportionality’ to determine the validity of legislation. In this context, explain what ‘Doctrine of Proportionality’ is

Answer 1

Approach:

• Start with writing about ‘Triple Test’ used by SC to determine the validity of legislation.
• Write about what you understand by ‘Doctrine of Proportionality’.

Triple test used by Supreme Court in Aadhar judgement
Hon'ble Chandrachud J. Supreme Court judge in Puttaswamy (Privacy) judgment, notes that any invasion of life or personal liberty must meet the three requirements of

1. legality, i.e. there must be a law in existence;
2. legitimate aim/State interest, which he illustrates as including goals like national security, proper deployment of national resources, and protection of revenue, social welfare; and
3. proportionality of the legitimate aims with the object sought to be achieved. There should be a rational nexus between the objects and the means adopted to achieve them.

The concept of proportionality is used as a criterion of fairness and justice in statutory interpretation processes, as a logical method to assist in discerning the correct balance between the objects of legislation and the means adopted to achieve them.

Doctrine of Proportionality relates to the principle of interpretation of statutory provisions maintaining fairness and justice.

It is a mode of restricting the legislative enactments/ administrative action from being drastic, when it is used for obtaining desired results, so that a sense of proportion is maintained between its goals along with preserving the public interest with minimal effect on the individual rights.

This criterion was also applied in Aadhar case.