Abstract

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act is controversial legislation enacted in the year 1958, in order to eliminate insurgency in North eastern parts of the country. The Act enable certain special powers to be conferred upon members of the armed forces in disturbed areas in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. AFSPA has been in the debate, as it grants the Armed forces huge array of powers, without imposing enough liability on their actions. The people of the north eastern states put-forth that fundamental rights are being violated as AFSPA being in place for more than 70 years. While on the other side, the Armed forces deem this to be essential legislation in order to carry out their operations to stop insurgency. In this paper the author, would look into administrative flaws in the sections of AFSPA and explain various provision in light of those violations. Rule of law has been declared by the Supreme Court as one of the basic features of the Constitution. As per rule of law, it is required that the people should be governed by the accepted rules rather than the decisions that are arbitrarily taken by the executive. The author would look into aspect of rule of law in AFSPA and whether it is followed or not. And then about the principles of natural justice are being followed in APSPA or not, and then into the landmark judgements. At last, the author would analyse various administrative reforms committee reports and their suggestions regarding the act and problems which need to dealt with it Act.

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