Significance of the Eighteenth Amendment Act, 1966
There are several significances present in this act which are discussed below.
- Establishment of the National Judicial Appointments Commission(NJAC): The amendment proposed to establish the NJAC. The NJAC was now fully responsible for recommending candidates for appointing them as judges to the Supreme Court of India and State High Courts of India. This was a significant change made from the previous system as previously the appointment of judges will be done by the President on the advice of the Chief Justice of India and other judges.
- Increased transparency and accountability: The amendment made a significant increment on transparency and accountability in the appointment of constitutional officers like judges, the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Chief Election Commissioner. As previously said, NJAC was established to ensure that the process of appointing judges was more transparent and accountable.
- Reformation of appointment of the Comptroller and Auditor General: The amendment also made a major changes in the way of appointing CAG. It aimed to ensure that the appointment process was more transparent and independent than the previous one.
- Constitutional recognition of eminent persons: The amendment defined the appointment process of two eminent persons to the NJAC, which gave constitutional recognition to individuals who were being considered as an expert in their field.
- Constitutional recognition of the Leader of Opposition: The amendment also first time gave constitutional recognition to the Leader of Opposition party in the Lok Sabha, who was included in the committee responsible for nominating the two eminent and experienced persons to the NJAC.
Eighteenth Amendment Act, 1966 in Indian Constitution
In the year of 1966, Indian Government amended “Article 3” of the Indian constitution, which is officially known as The Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 1966. The proposal is made to clarify the “State” in the clauses section from (a) to (e) present in “article 3” in the constitution, which basically includes “Union territories.” This amendment act also gave a brief explanation regarding the power to form a completely new State or Union territory by taking a part of any State or Union territory to any other State or Union territory by uniting. There is a special power conferred on Parliament by clause section(a). This act was an amendment to the Constitution of India that made some important changes in the way that a certain number of constitutional offices were appointed.