Doctrine of Eclipse






As per the Doctrine of Eclipse, any law, which is inconsistent with any Fundamental Right is not invalid but it would become temporarily inactive. In other words, it can be stated that if there exists any contradiction between any law and fundamental rights, then such law can be made inactive, however, this would not result in the removal of such act due to the stated conflict with the fundamental rights. Amendment of the fundamental rights as specified in the constitution can result in the revival of such act, which was inconsistent with any fundamental right. The eclipse is withdrawn when a higher court validates the law. Apart from this, the eclipse could be removed by an amendment to such law. This doctrine was applied in the case of Bhikaji Vs. The State of Madhya Pradesh. In this case, pre-constitutional laws were applied by the court.






From the above discussion, the following points can be extracted:

1. If there exists a contradiction between any law and the fundamental rights, then such contradictory law would become temporarily inactive, however, such law would not permanently die.

2. The contradictory law would become active with the omission of that fundamental right.

3. Eclipse can be removed by a court (higher level) by validating such law, which was found inconsistent with any fundamental right.