REVISITING BANGALORE WATER SUPPLY CASE

IN LIGHT OF REFERRAL TO 9 JUDGE BENCH OF SUPREME COURT

Abstract

This paper revisits the historic case of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Board vs A. Rajappa, whose correctness was recently questioned by the Supreme Court of India and it was to this effect that this case was referred to a 9-judge bench of the Supreme Court to decide  its correctness. The paper would be divided into two parts. The first part would be challenging the referral order itself by virtue of which the judgement has been referred to a larger bench. It would be analysing each of the 6 reasons the original 2005 order which were given in favour of the referral and  would refute them to prove that it was indeed a flawed order. The second part would take a more consequentialist approach and argue that now that the case has been already referred, in what manner should the apex court decide it. It will be argued that it should hold the triple test doctrine laid down in the BWSSB case. Four arguments in support of this proposition would be presented to the readers. They would be discussed in details under the heads of A) Restating the original jurisprudence, B) Departure from the Three-part test,  C) The distinction between inclusion and exclusion and lastly D) The overarching context.