This question is one day going to be debated and contested in Supreme Court.
This not only affects Parliament, it affects all Legislative Assemblies in India.
Basic Structure Theory
The issue is whether Leader of Opposition is a part of Basic Structure of Constitution of India.
If it is part of Basic Structure, Supreme Court has jurisdiction to direct Speaker to appoint a Leader of Opposition even if there may not be any law.
The Basic Structure is defined as "Not Fixed".
The Supreme Court can keep adding new features to it as per necessity of time.
One argument can be, there should be a leader of opposition party for smooth functioning of democracy. And therefore, it should be considered a part of Basic Structure.
But India's experiences have shown that Leader of Opposition Party has inbuilt weaknesses and he can become cozy to Ruling Party..
This can harm instead of helping Democracy.
It is not very easy to say that if there is No Leader of opposition, democracy cannot function.
Therefore it is difficult to say that Leader of Opposition is a part of Basic Structure.
Therefore, it is difficult for court to give any direction to Speaker of House to appoint a Leader of Opposition unless some Law is there.
Haresh Raichura
05/07/2014
