Keshav Singh case
Also called: Special Reference No. 1 of 1964 · Topic: Parliamentary Procedure, Committees and Privileges · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Keshav Singh case is the President's reference to the Supreme Court under Special Reference No. 1 of 1964. It came from a clash between the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly and the Allahabad High Court. The Assembly had jailed a citizen, Keshav Singh, for contempt of the House. The High Court then took up his case, and the Assembly objected. The Supreme Court held that courts can examine a legislature's jailing of a citizen for contempt. A House's privileges do not shut out judicial review (checking by courts) completely.
Example
The Assembly argued that, like the UK House of Commons, it alone could judge its contempt cases. The court did not accept that a House could use privilege to stop a court from examining whether a citizen's jailing was lawful.
Don't confuse with
- Searchlight case (M.S.M. Sharma, 1959): this held that privileges prevail over press freedom. Keshav Singh was about whether courts can review a House's punishment for contempt.
Related concepts
- Parliamentary privileges
- Individual privileges
- Collective privileges
- Bar on courts inquiring into parliamentary proceedings
- Breach of privilege
- Contempt of the House
- Privilege motion
- Committee of Privileges
- Ethics Committee
- Raja Ram Pal case