Constitution of India
Article 387: Special provision as to determination of population for the purposes of certain elections (Omitted)
Part XXI — Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions
Article 387 (single article — no sub-clauses)
WHAT IT SAID: During the first three years after the Constitution commenced (26 Jan 1950 – 25 Jan 1953), the President could determine the population of India or any part by executive order for purposes of elections — overriding normal Constitutional methods. WHAT IT MEANT: 1. India had no up-to-date census data when the Constitution came into force (last census was 1941 under British rule). 2. Several Constitutional provisions (e.g., seat allocation in Parliament, Presidential election vote value) depended on population figures. 3. This article gave the President a temporary power to use estimated or approximate population figures for election purposes. 4. Different population figures could be fixed for different States and different purposes. 5. The non-obstante clause ('notwithstanding anything in this Constitution') ensured this override trumped all other Constitutional requirements on population data. KEY DOCTRINE: No specific judicial doctrine arose from this article — it was a transitional facilitation provision that expired by efflux of time before any litigation could arise.
Constitutional Inspiration
SOURCE(S): 1. Government of India Act, 1935 — Transitional provisions in Part XIII that empowered the Governor-General to make orders to remove difficulties during the transition to new constitutional arrangements. Original provision: The Governor-General could adapt and modify laws and orders for smooth transition. What India kept: The concept of temporary executive power to fill gaps in data/infrastructure during the initial years of the new Constitution. INDIA'S SPECIFIC ADAPTATIONS: 1. Time-limited power (3 years only) — To prevent permanent executive discretion over a matter tied to democratic representation. 2. Population determination by Presidential order — Because the 1941 British census was outdated, and the first independent census (1951) had not yet been conducted when elections were needed. 3. Flexibility for different States — India's princely states and provinces had vastly different population data availability, requiring state-specific orders. ORIGINAL INDIAN CONTRIBUTION: The framers recognised that India's first elections could not wait for a fresh census. This article was a pragmatic, uniquely Indian solution to hold the world's largest democratic exercise with incomplete population data.
Constituent Assembly Debate
DEBATED ON: The provision corresponding to Article 387 was part of the transitional and temporary provisions block debated during the later sittings of the Constituent Assembly in 1949 (CAD Volumes IX–X, covering July–October 1949). KEY CONTEXT: 1. The Draft Constitution prepared by the Drafting Committee contained 315 articles; the transitional provisions were numbered differently and renumbered during final adoption. 2. The article was considered relatively non-controversial — it addressed an obvious practical gap (lack of census data for elections). 3. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and the Drafting Committee included it to ensure the first general elections could proceed without waiting for the 1951 Census results. MAJOR DISAGREEMENTS: None recorded — this was a facilitative, time-limited provision that attracted minimal debate. FINAL OUTCOME: The article was adopted without significant opposition, as all members agreed that an interim mechanism for population determination was essential for conducting the first elections under the new Constitution. NOTE: Detailed speaker-by-speaker records for this specific article are not readily available in digitised CAD archives, as many transitional provisions were adopted en bloc or with minimal individual discussion.
Landmark Judgments
LANDMARK JUDGMENTS: None — Article 387 was a transitional provision that expired by 1953 (three years after commencement) and was formally omitted in 1956. No Supreme Court or High Court judgment is known to have directly interpreted or adjudicated this article. RELATED CONTEXT: 1. The 7th Amendment Act, 1956 (which omitted Article 387) was enacted to implement the States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) recommendations and clean up obsolete transitional provisions. 2. The broader framework of population-based seat allocation under Articles 81 and 55 has been litigated, but Article 387 itself was never the subject of judicial scrutiny. SCHOLARS & JURISTS: 1. Granville Austin — In 'The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation' (1966), noted that Part XXI transitional provisions were pragmatic devices to bridge the gap between the old colonial order and the new constitutional republic. 2. D.D. Basu — In 'Commentary on the Constitution of India', noted Article 387 as a practical necessity given the absence of an independent census at the time of the Constitution's commencement. UPSC EXAM RELEVANCE: 1. Often asked indirectly — 'Which articles were omitted by the 7th Amendment Act, 1956?' 2. Useful for understanding why Part XXI contains both permanent (e.g., Art. 370 before 2019, Art. 371 series) and spent transitional provisions. 3. Illustrates the framers' pragmatism in addressing immediate governance challenges.