Article 170 Of Constitution Not Applicable To Legislatures Of Union Territories: Supreme Court In J&K Delimitation Case
Live LawThe Supreme Court observed that Article 170 of the Constitution deals with only the State Legislature and thus has no application to the Legislatures of Union Territories.Legislative Assemblies of the concerned Union Territories will be governed by the law made by the Parliament in accordance with Article 239A and not by the provisions of Chapter III of Part VI, the bench of Justices. The Supreme Court observed that Article 170 of the Constitution deals with only the State Legislature and thus has no application to the Legislatures of Union Territories. The court therefore considered the issue of applicability of Article 170 having the title “Composition of the Legislative Assemblies” to the Union Territory of J & K. The bench noted that, on a conjoint reading of Articles 3,4 and 239A, a) Parliament by making a law can convert an existing State into one or more Union territories; b) Parliament is empowered by law to create a body of legislature for the Union territories of Puducherry and J&K. Accordingly, sub-Section of Section 14 of the J & K Reorganisation Act provides that there shall be a Legislative Assembly for the Union Territory of J & K. c) Even if the law made by Parliament creating a body of legislature for Union territories of Puducherry and J&K has the effect of amending certain parts of the Constitution, it shall not be deemed to be an amendment of the Constitution for the purposes of Article 368.
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