Punjab Infrastructure Development And Regulation Act: Conflict With The Basic Principles Of The Constitution And Contract Law
Jai Aditya Dubey, Symbiosis Law School, Nagpur
INTRODUCTION
The Punjab Infrastructure and regulation act is an Act legislated by the state legislature in order to regulate the creation, development, maintenance, and operation of infrastructures throughout the State of Punjab, this act further gives power to the state government to establish an authority under section 4 of the Act called the Punjab Infrastructure regulatory authority, the function of this authority is to advise the government regarding the formulation of guidelines for tariffs, the authority also functions to solve disputes between the government, concessionaires, operators of the infrastructure or the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board. However, the act was formed in order to control the infrastructure projects throughout the state of Punjab but some provisions of the act come in contravention of the concept of separation of powers as mentioned in the constitution of India and other statutory laws of the country.
Some of the provisions such as the provision of the Punjab Infrastructure Regulatory Authority having the powers of a civil court, since the authority consists of members of the state government appointed through the official Gazette this provision of the act comes in contravention of the concept of separation of powers because the appointment is being made by the executive in a judicial Authority. Further, this act also puts a bar on the civil courts, this act states that no civil court shall have jurisdiction in respect of any matter to which the authority is empowered
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