PROPORTIONALITY TEST - Indian Laws - General

What it proportionality? In R vs. Goldstein [1983 (1) WLR 151 (157)], Lord Diplock said: This would indeed be using a sledge-hammer to crack a nut . Sir John Laws (Judge of the Q.B. Division) has described 'proportionality' as a principle here the Court is Concerned with the way in which the decision-maker has ordered his priortities; the very essence of decision making consists surely, in the attribution of relative importance to the factors in the case, and here is my point: This is precisely what proportionality is about He further says: What is therefore needed is a preparendness to hold that a decision which overrides a fundamental right without sufficient objective justification will, as a matter of law necessarily be disproportionate to the aims in view... The deployment of proportionality sets in focus the true nature of the exercise; the elaboration of a rule about permissible priorities . Desmith, Woolf and Jowell, (Judicial Review of Administrative Action (1995 5th ed., para 13.085 pp.601-605) point out that 'proportionality' used in human rights context involves a balancing test and the necessity test. The 'balancing test' means scrutiny of excessive onerous penalties or infringements of rights or interests and a manifest imbalance of relevant considerations. The 'necessity test' means that infringement of human rights in question must be by the least restrictive alternative. (UOI Ant. vs G. Ganayutham- 1997 (8) TMI 521 - SUPREME COURT)