Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India
Supreme Court of India(1978) 1 SCC 248Bench: Supreme Court of India
Related sections: Articles 14, 19, 21
The Court held that a law affecting personal liberty must prescribe a procedure that is just, fair and reasonable, not fanciful or oppressive. It linked Articles 14, 19 and 21 and required procedural fairness even where the statute used wide administrative language. The holding reflects the result and the principal reasons accepted by the court, while recognising that separate opinions may have used different reasoning. In recording this field for Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India, the emphasis is on the operative legal controversy, the constitutional or statutory setting, and the precise institutional consequence of the decision rather than on later popular summaries. The description should be read with the reported judgment, because landmark decisions often contain several concurring or dissenting opinions, different reasons, and later qualifications. For database use, this note separates held from broader commentary: it identifies the controlling principle, the procedural posture, and the relief actually granted or refused without adding unverified facts.