The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution

The Indian Constitution is one of the world's longest and most important political texts. Its birth, over six decades ago, signalled the arrival of the first major post-colonial constitution and the world's largest and arguably most daring democratic experiment. Apart from greater domestic focus on the Constitution and the institutional role of the Supreme Court within India's democratic framework, recent years have also witnessed enormous comparative interest in India's constitutional experiment.

The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution is a wide-ranging, analytical reflection on the major themes and debates that surround India's Constitution. The Handbook provides a comprehensive account of the developments and doctrinal features of India's Constitution, as well as articulating frameworks and methodological approaches through which studies of Indian constitutionalism, and constitutionalism more generally, might proceed. Its contributions range from rigorous, legal studies of provisions within the text to reflections upon historical trends and social practices. As such the Handbook is an essential reference point not merely for Indian and comparative constitutional scholars, but for students of Indian democracy more generally.

Sujit Choudhry, Dean and I. Michael Heyman Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law,Madhav Khosla, Department of Government, Harvard University,Pratap Bhanu Mehta, President and Chief Executive, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi

Sujit Choudhry is Dean and I. Michael Heyman Professor of Law at the UC Berkeley School of Law. His books include The Migration of Constitutional Ideas (Cambridge, 2006) and Constitutional Design for Divided Societies: Integration or Accommodation (Oxford, 2008).


Madhav Khosla is a PhD candidate at the Department of Government, Harvard University. His books include The Indian Constitution (Oxford, 2012), Letters for a Nation: From Jawaharlal Nehru to His Chief Ministers (Penguin, 2014) and Unstable Constitutionalism: Law and Politics in South Asia (with Mark Tushnet, Cambridge, 2015).

Pratap Bhanu Mehta is President and Chief Executive of the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. His books include The Burden of Democracy (Penguin, 2003), Public Institutions in India: Performance and Design (with Devesh Kapur, Oxford, 2005), and The Oxford Companion to Politics in India (with Niraja Gopal Jayal, Oxford, 2010).

1. Introduction, Sujit Choudhry, Madhav Khosla, and Pratap Bhanu Mehta
Part I: History
2. Constitutional Antecedents, Rohit De
3. Indian Constitutionalism: Sovereignty, Unity, and History, Uday S. Mehta
4. The Indian Founding: A Comparative Perspective, Hanna Lerner
Part II: Approaches
5. Constitutional Interpretation, Chintan Chandrachud
Part III: Negotiating Constitutionalism
6. Law, Politics, and Constitutional Hegemony, Upendra Baxi
7. Constitutional Identity, Gary Jacobsohn
8. Constitutional Change: A Public Choice Analysis, Shruti Rajagopalan
9. International Law and the Constitutional Schema, Lavanya Rajamani
Part IV: Constituting Democracy
10. Citizenship, Niraja Gopal Jayal
11. Language, Sujit Choudhry
12. Elections, Aditya Sondhi
13. Emergency Powers, Rahul Sagar
14. Constitutional Amendment, Madhav Khosla
Part V: Separation of Powers
15. Separation of Powers, Justice (retd.) Ruma Pal
16. Legislature: Composition, Qualifications, and Disqualifications, M. R. Madhavan
17. Legislature: Privileges and Process, Sidharth Chauhan
18. Executive, Shubhankar Dam
19. Judicial Architecture and Capacity, Nick Robinson
20. Judicial Independence, Justice (retd.) B. N. Srikrishna
21. Jurisdiction, Raeesa Vakil
22. The Administrative and Regulatory State, T. V. Somanathan
23. Tribunals, Arun K. Thiruvengadam
24. Review of Administrative Action, Prateek Jalan and Ritin Rai
Part VI: Federalism
25. The Federal Scheme, Mahendra Pal Singh
26. Legislative Competence: The Union and the States, V. Niranjan
27. Inter-State Trade and Commerce, Arvind Datar
28. Inter-State River Water Disputes, Harish Salve
29. Fiscal Federalism, Nirvikar Singh
30. Asymmetric Federalism, Louise Tillin
31. Local Government, K. C. Sivaramakrishnan
Part VII: Rights - Structures and Scope
32. Rights: Breadth, Scope, and Applicability, Ananth Padmanabhan
33. Horizontal Effect, Stephen Gardbaum
34. Writs and Remedies, Gopal Subramanium
35. Savings Clauses: The Ninth Schedule and Articles 31A-C, Surya Deva
36. Directive Principles of State Policy, Gautam Bhatia
37. Public Interest Litigation, Shyam Divan
38. The Constitutionalization of Indian Private Law, Shyam Balganesh
Part VIII: Rights - Substance and Content
39. Equality, Tarunabh Khaitan
40. Reservations, Vinay Sitapati
41. Gender Equality, Ratna Kapur
42. Life and Personal Liberty, Anup Surendranath
43. Due Process, Abhinav Chandrachud
44. Criminal Law and the Constitution, Aparna Chandra and Mrinal Satish
45. Speech and Expression, Lawrence Liang
46. Assembly and Association, Menaka Guruswamy
47. Movement and Residence, Anirudh Burman
48. Profession, Occupation, Trade, and Business, Vikramaditya Khanna
79. Secularism and Religious Freedom, Ronojoy Sen
50. Personal Laws, Flavia Agnes
51. Minority Educational Institutions, K. Vivek Reddy
52. Property, Namita Wahi
Part IX: The Government's Legal Personality
53. Government Contracts, V. Umakanth
54. Sovereign Immunity, Neel Maitra
55. Public Employment and Service Law, Raju Ramachandran
Part X: Epilogue
56. The Indian Constitution Seen from Outside, Mark Tushnet