Legislation which arbitrarily or excessively invades
the right cannot be said to contain the quality of
reasonableness and unless it strikes a proper
balance between the freedom guaranteed in article
19(1)(g) and the social control permitted by clause
(6) of article 19, it must be held to be wanting in that
quality.” (at page 763)
24.
In State of Madras v. V.G. Row, [1952] S.C.R. 597, this
Court said:
“This Court had occasion in Dr. Khare's case (1950)
S.C.R. 519 to define the scope of the judicial review
under clause (5) of Article19 where the phrase
"imposing reasonable restriction on the exercise of
the right" also occurs and four out of the five Judges
participating in the decision expressed the view (the
other Judge leaving the question open) that both the
substantive and the procedural aspects of the
impugned restrictive law should be examined from
the point of view of reasonableness; that is to say,
the Court should consider not only factors such as
the duration and the extent of the restrictions, but
also the circumstances under which and the manner
in which their imposition has been authorised. It is
important in this context to bear in mind that the test
of reasonableness, where ever prescribed, should
be applied to each, individual statute impugned and
no abstract standard, or general pattern of
reasonableness can be laid down as applicable to
all cases. The nature of the right alleged to have
been infringed, the underlying purpose of the
restriction imposed, the extent and urgency of the
evil sought to be remedied thereby, the
disproportion of the imposition, the prevailing
conditions at the time, should all enter into the
judicial verdict. In evaluating such elusive factors
26