The Scandinavian institution of Ombudsman created in Sweden in 1809

LOKPAL

• The Administrative Reforms Commission of India(1966-1970)recommended the setting up of two special authorities designated as ‘Lokpal’ and ‘lokayukta’ for the redressal of citizens grievances. These institutions were to be set up on the pattern of the institution of Ombudsman.
• Bills were introduced in the Parliament in the following: 1968, 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001

LOKAYUKTAS

• It must be noted here that the institution of lokayukta was established first in Maharashtra in 1971.Although Orissa had passed the Act in this regard in 1970.

AMENDMENT TO CONSTITUTION

• The procedure for the Amendment of the Constitution is given in Article 368 of Part XX of the Constitution.
• The Constitution can be amended in three ways:
  1. The simple majority
  2. By Special Majority in both Houses of Parliament, i.e., Majority of the total membership and 2/ 3 of the present and voting,

• By the special Majority, as described above, and the consent of more than half of the total States of the Union (Consent of 15 states at present).

• The third way to amend the Constitution is not described in Article368 but it is mentioned in the articles where it is applicable. The first Amendment to the Constitution was made in 1951, So far, 94Constitutional Amendments have been enacted.

Procedure for Amendment

• Certain provisions of the Constitution can be amended by the Parliament by simple majority (More than 50%). These include provisions relating to the creation of new states, reconstitution of existing states creation or abolition of upper chambers in the state legislature, etc
• But a major portion of the Constitution can be amended by a special majority two third majority in Parliament. This must also be the clear-cut majority of the total membership of each house
• Some provisions can be amended by Parliament by a special majority two-third majority and also require the approval of the legislatures of majority of the states. Provisions that can be amended this way include election of the President, powers of the union and states executive, union judiciary, High Courts, representation of states in Parliament, amendment procedure etc.,

IMPORTANT CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

• The Seventh Amendment (1956) i as necessitated to implement the regarding the reorganization states on a linguistic basis and introduced changes in the First and the Fourth Schedules
• The Twenty –fourth Amendment (1971) affirmed the right of the Parliament to amend any part of the Constitution including Fundamental Rights. It made the assent of the President to such amendments automatic. This amendment overcame the restrictions imposed on the powers of the Parliament to amend Fundamentals Rights due to the Supreme Court judgment in the GolakNath case
• The Twenty-fifth Amendment (1972) Law passed to give effect to the Directive Principles of State Policy contained in Article 39 (b) or (c) would not be void even if it came in conflict with the rights granted under Articles 14 ,19 and 31 of the Constitution.
• The Twenty-sixth Amendment (1971) abolished the titles and special privileges of former rulers of princely states.
• The Thirty-sixth Amendment (1975) accorded Sikkim the status of a full-fledged state.
• The Forty-second Amendment (1976) was the most comprehensive amendment to the Constitution and carried out drastic changed. Some prominent changes made were:

It added the Word ‘Socialist’ and ‘Secular’ in the Preamble.

a)It added a set of 10 Fundamental Duties to the Constitution.

b)It asserted the supremacy of Parliament with regard to the amendment of the Constitution.

c)It froze the seats in the LokSabha and state assemblies on the basis of the 1971 census till 2001 AD.

d)It raised the tenure of the LokSabha rate assemblies from five to six years.

e)It made it obligatory for the President  to act on the advice of council of ministers.

f)It transferred ‘subjects like forests, education, population control  from the state list to the concurrent list.

• The Fifty-second Amendment (1989) was unanimously passed by Parliament to curb political defections
• The Sixty-first Amendment (1989) reduced the voting age from 21 years to 18 years-for the LokSabha as well as assembly elections.
• The Seventy-third Amendment (1992) Provided a constitutional guarantee to the formation of Panchayats at village and other levels, direct elections to all seats in Panchayats, reservation of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, etc.
• The Seventy-fourth Amendment (1992) Added a new part to the Constitution relating to urban local bodies.
• The Seventy-sixth Amendment (1994) – Seeks to bring the Tamil Nadu Reservation Act (which provides for 69 per cent reservation in jobs and educational institutions in the state) under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.
• The 86th constitutional amendment (2002) has made free compulsory education, a right of all children from 6 to 14 years of age, has given thrust to the goal of Universalization of Education.
• Ninety – First Amendment Act, 2003 – Made the following provisions to limit the size of Council of Ministers, to debar defectors from holding public offices, and to strengthen the anti – detection law
• Ninety – Second Amendment Act, 2003 – Included four more languages in the English Schedule. They are Bodo, Dogri (Dongri),Mathilli (Maithili) and Santhali .With this, the total number of constitutionally recognized languages increased to 22
• Ninety – Third Amendment Act, 2005 -Empowered the state to make special provisions for the socially educationally backward classes or the Scheduled the Scheduled Tribes in educational institutions including private educational institutions.