ABINASH NRUSINGHA 31 August 2023
T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate) 01 September 2023
In the case of Commissioner of Wealth Tax, Meerut v. Sharvan Kumar Swarup and Sons (1994), the Supreme Court of India made the distinction between substantive and procedural laws clear.
The Court defined substantive laws as the laws which fix duties and establish rights and responsibilities among and for natural or artificial persons, while procedural laws are those which prescribe the methods in which such rights and responsibilities may be exercised and enforced respectively.
procedural laws, also known as Adjective Laws, are the laws which act as the ‘machinery’ for enforcing rights and duties. Procedural laws comprise the rules by which a court hears and determines what happens in civil, criminal or administrative proceedings, as well as the methods by which substantive laws are made and administered.
Procedural laws are extremely important in the administration of justice.
The primary source of procedural laws is the Constitution