The Power of Delegated Legislation and its Constitutional Parameters: A Critical Analysis

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to analyze the constitutional Parameters of delegated legislation, which discusses the consistency of delegated laws per the constitution. In Bangladesh, the executive branch of the Government is empowered to legislate rules, regulations and by-laws for better administration and governance. As Bangladesh follows the supremacy of the Constitution, these secondary laws are subject to constitutional scrutiny. Moreover, the doctrine of severability and the doctrine of eclipse are also embodied in the constitution. Even though unconstitutional secondary laws can dominate the legal arena in Bangladesh if their vires are not challenged in the High Court. The recent trend shows that nowadays the government prefers to govern the state through delegated laws and as a result they are enacted in an alarming rate. Most of the time, the authorities making these laws do not maintain the constitutional obligations which sometimes leads to the violation of the constitutional parameters of the law-making. This paper argues that the excessive law-making through delegated legislation causes grave unconstitutionality in day to day activity of the government. The paper also argues that the law-making process through delegated legislation remains outside the ambit of proper check and balance. To substantiate the paper depicted the law-making process through delegation and pointed out the unconstitutionality in the process. Hence, the paper concludes that the constitutional dream of establishing rule of law will remain impossible if the law-making process remains unconstitutional at the secondary stage.