Doctrine of colourable legislation
Topic: Federalism and Centre-State Relations · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
This rule says a legislature cannot do indirectly what it cannot do directly. A law may be dressed up to look as if it falls within the legislature's powers. If in substance it goes beyond those powers, the court will strike it down. Courts use this doctrine to settle disputes over the Seventh Schedule lists and to stop one level of government from taking over another's subjects. The leading case is K.C. Gajapati Narayan Deo (1953).
Example
Suppose a state passes a law that it calls a tax. If the law's real purpose is to deal with a subject outside the state's powers, the court can declare it a colourable piece of legislation and strike it down.
Don't confuse with
- Pith and substance: here the court checks a law's true nature and allows small side effects on another list (F.N. Balsara, 1951). Colourable legislation catches laws that hide their true purpose.
Related concepts
- Seventh Schedule
- Union List
- State List
- Concurrent List
- Residuary powers
- Transfer of subjects to the Concurrent List
- Doctrine of pith and substance
- Doctrine of territorial nexus