Short notes for memorization of polity (Laxmikanth)

Historical background

Regulatory act 1773 –

 After taking the diwani rights in 1765 EIC workers got very rich but the company suffered
 Heads of the company went to Britain to ask for help
 In return crown went furious how did you suffer loses when we gave you the autonomy
 Hence the regulating act came in 1773
 Governor of Bengal -> governor general of india and beginning of transferring powers to him
from rest of the govrns.
 1st gov general of Bengal Warren Hasting
 Governors of madras and Bombay were made his subordinates.
 4 members of executive council which helped in legislation also.
 Supreme court made in Calcutta 1774 with sir Elijah impay as chief justice and 3 more judges.
 New body Court of directors came into being to answer to the crown, it had to control military
and civil (24 members).

Amendment in 1781 – it dealt with majorly supreme court, that supreme court was not supposed to
interfere in any official work of GGs and the british workers or officials.

Regulatory act 1784/Pits2 act –

 it distinguished between commercial duties of EIC and political

 for commercial court of directors COD were responsible
 for political board of control was responsible
 this was the first time britishers started calling territorial possessions of EIC as british
possessions in india.

Charter act 1833 –

 final step towards the centralization in british india.

 Governor general of Bengal was labeled as governor general of india
 William bentick 1st GGI
 All of the military, revenue and administration controls went to GGI
 Govrnrs of madras and Bombay were left with no powers
 Entire legislative powers of british india went to GGI
 The Indian possessions were taken by GGI as a trust in the name of crown
 EIC became a purely administrative body instead of commercial one
 Civil services exams were opened for Indians too but met with harsh opposition from court of
directors hence dropped.
Charter act of 1853 -

 It first time separated legislative body and executive body of GGI

 GGI had now a legislative council body
 An additional 6 members for legislative council body out of which four were Indians
 Agra, Bombay, madras and bengal
 Civil service exams were opened for everyone even for Indians
 Mucualay committee was responsible for civil services exams
 Company’s rule was extended without specifying any time period implying it could be shut off
anytime.

Government of india act 1858/good government of india act 1858 –

 In the wake of war of independence 1857

 EIC was completely abolished
 Crown rule succeeded
 GGI -> vice roy of india
 Canning 1st viceroy
 Secretary of state (india) a british cabinet minister sitting in british parliament
 Vice roy reported to secratory of state and he reported to british parlilament
 15 members to assist secratory of state as an advisory body
 Secretory of state in council can sue and can be sued on.

After the 1857 revolt british govt sorted to inculcate Indian citizens into the british govt. hence they
bought 3 acts for this 1861/1892/1909

Indian council act 1861 –

 An important landmark in Indian political history

 Non official members (indians) were added by canning raja of banaras, maharaja of Patiala and
sir dinkar rao in Governor general’s council.
 Decentralization of powers
 Vice roy enjoyed absolute powers in transactions(portfolios)
 In case of emergency such regulations will continue for 6 months.

Indian council act 1892 –

 Stronger legislative assembly as the non official members could discuss the budget and
raise questions to executive
 Recommendations of provincial legislative council and Bengal chamber of commerce will be
considered to nominate Indian members by viceroy.
 Also of zamindars, universities and trade unions.
Indian council act 1909/marley minto reforms –

 Marley was secretory and minto was viceroy at that time.

 Central legislative council and provinvial legislative was increased. First being 16 to 60 and later
was not uniform.
 Indians could join for the first time executive council
 Satyendra Prasad sinha first indian viceroy’s executive council
 Introduced communal electorate for muslims.
 Hence minto came to know as father of communal electorate

Govt. of india act 1919/Montague & chlemsford reforms –

 Montague was secretary of the state and chlemsford was the viceroy of india
 First time bimaceral institute of govt was introduced along with diarchy (diarchy at provincial
level)
 Bicameral i.e. upper house and lower house
 lower house 145 (104 elected and 41 nominated) upper house had 60 (34 elected and 26
nominated)
 3 of 6 viceroys executives to be Indians except commander in chief
 Further added the communal electorate for sikhs, Indian Christians and dalits.
 Granted franchise to limited people on the basis of property/tax and education.
 Central subjects and provincial subjects lists were divided.
 Further divided provincial list into two parts reserved and transferred list
 Reserved list was under governors and executives
 And transferred under governor and legislatives
 Central public service commission was made for civil services CPSC 1926
 Central budget and provincial budget was first time bifurcated.

Simon commission – it was decided that after 10 years of govt india act 1919 it will be reviewed and a
new constitution shall be framed for india. But in 1927 2 years before the time limit a commission came
to india under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon. They reviewed the condition of india and submitted
its report. The commission was met with severe backlash from Indians as there was not a single Indian in
it. To reconcile with Indians 3 round table conferences were held in brittian. The report submitted by
simon commission was considered for govt of india act 1935. Communal electorate continued to be a
focus as ramsay macdonald the then PM of England granted communal award.
Govt of india act 1935 – it marked a second milestone for responsible govt. in india. It was a lengthy
document with 321 sections and 10 schedules.

 Abolished the diarchy in the provinces and established provincial autonomy in its place.
 Adopted diarchy at the centre (proposed only could not apply).
 Mayanmar separated from india.
 80% of present Indian constitution still follows this act.
 An all india federational unit was to be made which would include provinces and princely states.
 Legislative powers were divided in centre and states in 3 lists : federal list (59), province list (54)
and concurrent list (36) and residual powers were given to the viceroy
 However federation never came into being (provinces did not agree to join) and this was never
applied
 Rights of vote went to 10% of the population
 Reserve bank of india was made to deal with the currency and credit
 Federal public service commission was made as well as provincial service commission and a joint
public service commission for 2 or more provinces.
 Bicameralism in 6 out of 11 provinces (united provinces, Bengal, Bombay, madras, bihar, assam)
 Separate electorate for women and depressed classes.
 Fedral railway authority

Article 33 restricts armed forces fundamental rights and intelligence beureau etc.

1971 gorakhnath vs state of Punjab case violation of right to property so tha land was returned.

New amendment was passed 1971 24 th amendment act said constitution can be amended from
anywhere be it fundamental right also

1973 keshavnanda bharti vs state of kerela case – doctrine of basic structure, judiciary can put any
legislation act through judicial review and term it as unconstitutional act.

Article 368 – provides detailed procedure for amendment of constitution.

1951 – constitutional amenemnt act made 9 th schedule and inserted some points in it including land
issues and claiming judiciary cannot interfere in 9 th schedule

1951 shankariprasad case a zamindar using article 13 which said that judiciary can make null and void
any law made by legislature but judge said its amendment not law and the law was taken.

1965 sajjan singh vs state of rajasthan right to property is being harmed same judgment was repeated.
1971 gorakhnath vs state of Punjab case violation of right to property so tha land was returned. 67 - 71

New amendment was passed 1971 24 th amendment act said constitution can be amended from
anywhere be it fundamental right also and once the amendment is passed prez is bound to sign it.

1973 keshavnanda bharti vs state of kerela case – doctrine of basic structure, judiciary can put any
legislation act through judicial review and term it as unconstitutional act.

Fundamental rights cannot be canceled anymore etc

1975 elections raj narayan lost in ray bareli and indra Gandhi won and he sued Gandhi in alahabad court
she rigged, he won and election became null and void and debarred for 6 years from election 12 june,

She knocked supreme court and declared emergency 25 june and passed 39 th amendment act added
329a if pm is in election or speaker judiciary will remain far

1980 minerva mills case

Part of constitution and schedules etc –

 usko chaha fir dekha fir usko socha bhi usne par mujhe chor samjha. 1-10
 R F T S T E P. 11-16
 L E M A T S 17-22

1. Usko – union and its territory. articles 1-4

2. Chaha – citizenship . 5 -11
3. Fir – fundamental rights. 12-35
4. Dekha – DPSP. 36-51
4A. Fir – fundamental duties. 51a
5. Usko – union. 52-151
6. Socha – state. 152-237
7. Bhi – states in part B of first schedule. Removed now. Articlee 238
8. Usne – union territories 239-242
9. Par – panchayat 243-243o
9A. Mujhe – municipalities. 243p-243g
9B. Chor – cooperative societies. 243 zh-243zt
10. Samjha – scheduled tribes and schedule casts. 244-244A

11. Relations between union and states –

12. Finance
13. Trade
14. Services.
 ………………… 14 A. tribunals

15. Elections
16. Provisons for certain classes

17. Languages
18. Emergency provision
19. Misseleneus acts
20. Amendment of constitution
21. Temporary provisons
22. Short titles

Schedules – TEARS OF OLD PM

1. T – terrritorie
2. E – emoluments/salaries
3. A – affirmations
4. R- rajya sabha
5. S – scheduled areas
6. O – other scheduled areas
7. F – fedral structure
8. O – official languages
9. L – land reforms
10. D – defection laws
11. P – Panchayat
12. M- muncipality

Fundamental rights (12-35) – by default a rights for every Indian citizen. Sources for this idea bill of
rights USA (1789) direct source, indirect sources; manusmriti, arthashsastra – chanakya/kautilya and
ashoka inscriptions etc. other direct sources ; swaraj bill by lok manya tilak, commonwealth of india bill
by A. besant, Nehru commission, tez bahadur sapru report.

Features : negative in nature ie don’t do this and that

 Justiciable
 Amendable (except basic structure)
 Limited (in case of emergency)

IPC 188 empowers DM and SDM to apply section 144 if they find danger for life, public tranquility, riots
5 or more than 5 persons cannot gather at one place 6 months jail for violation or fine or both. If they
find it necessary they can suspend internet also but transport isn’t suspended.

and curfew and lockdown in 269, 270 and 271 only applicable through DM, transport is also suspended,
people are restricted to their homes only essential services is also banned (in curfew not In lockdown).

IPC has assigned these sections for serious public healths also

 Section 269 – violation = 6 months jail/fine

 Section 270 – violation = 2 years/fine
 Section 271 – violation = 2 years/isolation/fine

Marathon session (short notes)

 Firs time constituent assembly was demanded by bal gangadhar tilak in 1895 in swarajya bill
 Then by Gandhi in 1922 in young india magazine
 Then by MN roy in 1934
 INC first time officially in 1935
 Americ adopted world.s first written constitution in 1787
 Then france from 1789-1790 during French revolution by national assembly
 Further nations also adopted written constitution
 Hence india was also tempted to demand written constitution through a constitution assembly
 First time jawahar lal Nehru in 1938 on behalf of congress declared constitution of free india
must be framed without any external interference on the basis of adult francise
  This demand was accepted in august offer 1940
 Under cabinet mission plan election for cabinet assembly was held in july 1946
 Total 389 seats out of which 292 for british provinces, 93 for princely states, 4 uts
 Election was held only on 296 seats rest were nominated ie princely states seats were
nominated.
 The constituent assembly was indiereclty elected

Working of constituent assembly

 Election on july 1946

 Results in nov
 Meeting on 9 dec 1946
 Muslim league boycotted
 Only 211 members attended
 Sachidanda sinha was presided by temporarily
 Rajendra Prasad permanent president on 11 th and hc mukherjee and vt krishnamachri as 2 vice
prez
 J Nehru moved his historic objectives resolutions in assembly 13 dec
 Jan 22 1947 uninamously accepted by assembly
 After partition 299 seats remained in the constituent assembly (229 in states and 70 in princely
states)
 August 29 1947 drafting committee was made with br ambedkar being the head with other 7
members
 Constitution was submitted on feb 21 1948
 Three discussion took place on the constitution;
 Nov 4-9 1948
 Nov 15 1948-oct 17 1949
 Nov 14-26 1949
 26 nov 1949 constitution was accepted contained preamble 395 artiles and 8 schedules
 Only 284 out of 299 were present and put their signature on the constitution
 15 aricles of constitution were enacted and rest on 26 jan 1950 also known as day of
commencement
  24 jan 1950 last constituent assembly meeting it was rebranded as the interim parliament after
that.

Preamble –

We the people of india have solemnly resolved to make india into a sovereign, socialist, secular,
democratic republic ensuring its citizens with

Justice – social, economical and political

Liberty – of thought, expression, faith, belief and worship

Equality - of status and opportunity and promoting

Fraternity - of individual and the nation

Constitution hereby is adopted on 26 nov 1949

 But commenced on 26 jan 1950

 Concept of preamble taken from USA
 Preamble was considered as a part of constitution
 It is non justiciable and acted as a principal for interpreting constitution
 But berubari case 1960 decalred it extra constitutional
 Golaknath v state of Punjab 1967 accepted the importance of preamble (as it highlights main
objectives of state of india ) yet denied it as a part of constitution
 Keshavnanda v state of kerela 1973 accepted preamble to be a part of constitution, it also went
on to mention legislatives may amend constitution under articlae 368 but it cannot change the
basic structure of the constituion (supreme court shall decide what the basic structure is in
different cases)
 LIC case accepted preamble as an integral part of constitution 1995
 Preamble is the basic structure of the constitution SR Bommai case 1994
 Preamble is neither enforceable nor justiciable
 Preamble is amendable, 42nd amendment act 1976 socialist, secular and integrity were added.
 States before reorganization
1. A ; 9 governor’s provinces in british era
2. B ; 9 erstwhile princely and legislature
 3. C ; 10 chief commisionr’s provinces of british inida
4. D ; andman nicobar
Fazal ali commission only accepted language based states division still rejected one language
one state idea. Suggested 16 states and 3 uts but it wasn’t accepted.
The reorganization act putted 14 and 6 1956.

Article 1 – india ie bharat is a union

Article 2 - how to accede other states into india
Article 3- deals with reorganization of states of Indian union
Article 4 – states that article 2 and 3 does not need any constitutional amendment under 368,
only needs to be accepted under simple majority, but if a Indian territory is given to other state
then this will need constitutional amendment under 368 with special majority.
Article 5 – 11 deals with citizenship.
The citizenship articles define who are the citizens of india after 26 jan 1950 and article 11
empowers parliament to provide provisions for the citizens.
Hence parliament enacted citizenship laws in 1955
It says there are 5 ways to gain citizenship of india and 3 ways of loosing it.
Types of citizenship –
 By birth
 By descent
 Please research and continue asap

Article 5 – person domiciled in india

Article 6 – person migrated from Pakistan

Article 7 – person migrated to but later returned Pakistan

Article 8 – person of Indian origin but residing outside.

Article 12 to article 35 fundamental rights, some fundamental rights are self executionary and some
need legislation. Fundamental rights are a guarantee from state for its citizens to safeguard their rights
against tyranny.
 Article 12 – deals with the definition of state against which the rights are supposed to apply.
 Aricle 13 – gave supremacy to fundamental rights over other laws
 Article 13:1 – fundamental rights are superior to the laws made before 1950 ie no law can
interfere with FR
 Article 13:2 – fundamental rights are superior to the laws made after 1950
 Article 13:3 – law is any written govt ordinance which interferes with citizen’s rights
 Article 13:4 – constitution amendment can however interfere with FR (after keshavnanda bhati
case amendments cannot change the basic structure of the constitution)
 E-F-FE-FR-CE-CR 4-4-2-4-2-4
 Article 14- 18 - Right to equality 4
 this article deals with that every citizen is equal before the law and no one can demand for
special treatment. Ie Indian democracy demands rule of law.
 Article 15 - state shall not discriminate on the basis of gender, religion, caste or place of birth
although positive discrimination can be done.
 Article 15:2 – no restriction on the basis of religion, caste, gender, place of birth with regards to-
 A - Access to any shop, hotel
 B – well or any public places
 Article 15:3 – state can make special provisions for women, children.
 Article 15:4 - added by CAA 1951 state can provide any special provisions for any deprived
community.
 No reservation shall be more than 50% sawhaney case yet presently tamil nadu provides 69% of
reservations
 Article 16 - equality of opportunity for employment
 Article 16:2 - details the grounds for discrimination ie no discrimination shall be on the basis of
gender, caste, rellgion, place of birth for employment
 Aricle 16:3 – for certain employments state can restrict jobs for certain area
 Aricle 16:4 – state can provide reservation for any backward class if it sees that their isn’t
adequate representation of that community in it.
 Article 16:5 – for any religious post only people of that community shall be considered.
 Article 16:6 – reservation for economical weaker sections
 Article 17 – no untouchablity, however constitution doesn’t explain untouchability although
mysore high court explained that social disabilities imposed on certain classes on the basis of
their birth.
To make it more serious this article is enforceable against the individuals also.
Further parliament passed untoucability offenses act in 1 st june 1955 under provision of article
35. This act was renamed in 1976 as protection of civil rights.
 Aricle 18 – no titles except military and academic
 Article 18:2 – no Indian citizen shall accept any title from foreign state.
 Article 18:3 – any foreign national holding any office of trust in india shall not accept foreign title
until prez allows
 Aricle 18:4 – any Indian or froiegn national shall accept foreign title only after prez consent.
 No titles like nawab, rai bahadur, thakur, sir, lord is acceptable as it promotes inequality among
society
 Bharat ratna, padma vibhushan, padma bhushan, padma sri awarda initiated in 1954 but closed
in 1977 citing it violates art 18 by moraji desai but reestablished by indra Gandhi govt in 1980
and supreme court accepted it in 1996 as it was an award appreciating someones contributions
 Aricle 19-22 - Right to freedom 4
 Article 19 – is the most important article which embodies the freedom of the Indian citizens.
These freedoms are applicable to citizens only and not on the foreigners. Company shareholders
can also enjoy these rights. These rights are not absolute there are some reasonable restrictions
and those restrictions are mentioned in the article 19 only
 Article 19:1:a – freedom of speech and expressions. Exceptions –
 not against security of state
 not against friendly relations with any country
 not against public order
 decency and morality
 contempt of court
 no defamation
 no incitement to offense
 soveirgnity and integrity of india
 supreme court explains freedom of speech includes : freedom to express one’s thoughts,
freedom of press, freedom of commercial advertisments
 article 19:1:b – right to assemble without arms peacefully but not absolute, take out
proscessions, public meetings, demonstrations
 restricted on hurting sovergnity of india
 restricted in preservance of public order and maintence of traffic
 does not include strikes
 article 19:1:C – deals with right to form associations, unions and operative societies
 includes political party
 companies
 partnership firms
 article 19:1:D – right to move freely in the country, this helps in promoting national bond so that
parochialism shall be demolished, but some restrictions on interfering with the tribal
comminities
 article 19:1:E – right to settle anywhere in the country.
 Article 19:1:F – right to property but this article has been omitted by 44 th amendment act 1978
now it’s a legal right
 Aricle 19:1G – freedom of profession. right to trade or business anywhere in the country but
with logical restrictions.
 Article 20 – protection in case of conviction/offense, for persons accused of crime. Term person
includes firms, citizens, aliens.
 Article 21 – no person shall be deprived of life and personal liberty. Except according to the law.
It is given against state, also said to be the backbone of part III and part IV of constitution and
the most fundamental of the fundamental rights.
 Article 21:A - right to free and compulsory education for 6-14 years. It was first a DPSP but after
88th amendment act it was mad a FR. As inferred by the parliament. 2009 this act was passed
and in 1st april 2010 came into affect. Another amendment came in 2010 which made it
compulsory for disabled childrens also.
 Article 22 - protection against arrest and detention.
 22:1 - says the victim shall be informed of the cause of arrest and shall not be denied a lawyer
for his defence
 22:2 – the person who is arrested shall be produced to nearest magistrate within 24 hours. The
travel hours and a holiday wont be considered in 24 hours.
 22:3 – says that article 22 is not applicable for enemy aliens and the poor victims of preventive
detenstions ( like PSAs of JK)
 22:4 – the preventive detainee cannot be detained for more then 3 months if more than 3
months is req a board of high courts shall sit to decide.


 Article 23-24 Right against exploitation 2

 Article 23 –1 - forced labour and human trafficking is punishable
 23 – 2 – state can compel any individual for forced labour without any payment if its in public
interest but there shall be no discrimination based on religion, caste, class
 Article 24 – child labour ban under the age of 14 years.
 Article 25-28 - Right to freedom of religion 4
 25:1 – freedom of conscience, freedom of choosing a religion and practice also. And propagate
your religion but with morality, health and public order. Eg use of loudspeaker, cracking on
diwali can be banned for public order
 25:2 – nothing in this article shall affect any existing law or it wont prevent any new law. To
fincancial checks and reforms for hindus
 Article 26 – right to maintain religious institutions and manage their own affairs
 Religious rights of 25 and 26 are not absolute, they shall not constitutional guarantees provided
to others
 Article 27 – no citizen will not be forced to pay any taxes for promotion of any particuoar
religion by the state hence this article makes india a true secular state.
 Article 28 – state owned institutions shall be secular
 Article 29-30 - Right to culture and education 2
 29:1- minorities have the rights to preserve their culture and script. But the apex court held that
this article is secured for minorities as well as majority.
 29:2 – no institution shall deny the admission of an individual on the basis of religion, race and
caste etc
 Article 30:1 – any religios/llinguistic minority has the right to establish their choice of
educational institute
 30:2- state shall not discriminate any minority educational institute with respect to the aid.
 Article 32-35 - Constitutional remedies 4
 Article 32 – helps in enforcing FRs of a grieving citizen hence Dr. ambedkar termed it as heart
and soul of the constitution. It is the basic structure of the constitution
 32:1 – if your FR is violated knock on the supreme court
 32:2 – empowers supreme court to issue writs for protection of FRs of the particular citizen
 32:3 – supreme court can give right to CAT or SAT to exercise writs on local limits
 32:4 – whatever the condition may be article 32 cannot be suspended otherwise provided by
constitution ie in emergency Prez can suspend accept 20 21 .
 The crux of the matter is that writs are not exclusive for supreme court although original but not
exclusive as it is a concurrent sharing powers with high court under article 226 further
parliament can also empower any other court to issue writs.
 Writs issued by supreme court (constitutional remedies) article 32 heart and soul of
constitution
 Habeaus corpus – you should have the body, if any govt or private institution detains any person
more than 24 hours and does not produce him before the magistrate, supreme court can ask
kahan se laye ye gurde if found illegal court can set him free
 Mandeamus – to command, issued by court for public official to perform his duties properly.
Can be issued to govt only not private
 Prohibition – higher courts can tell lower courts that the task you are doing is beyond your
jurisdiction
 Certiorori – in this case higher courts can command the lower courts to transfer the case to
them as it is not their jurisdiction or the higher courts can even squash/cancel the judgment
made by lower courts
 Quo warranto – by what warrant, asks retired officials by what authority are you still sitting in
the court.

Directive principles of state policies (article 36-51)

 Borrowed it from Ireland.

 Provides fundamental base for governance
 Non justicieable
  Sapru committee 1945 made two sections of individual rights one justiciable other non
justiciable ie FR and DPSP
 It works as an ideal for government to work for betterment of the citizens
 They seek economical and social democracy and FR seek political democracy
 They are derived instrument of instructions from government of india act 1935
 Indian constitution doesn’t classify DPSPs but on the basis of their content it has been classified
into –
 Socialistic principle
 Gandhian principle
 Western liberal principle
 Socialistic principles direct state for social and economic justice and a welfare state by following
articles –
 Article 38 – says to end the social inequalities by promoting political, social, economical justice.
To minimize inequalities of income, status and facilities. Its new dpsp added after 44 th
amendment act 1978
 Article 39 – secures citizens by providing adequate means of livelihood, equal distribution of
common good, prevention of concenteration of wealth
 Equal pay for equal work for men and women
 Prevention against forcible abuse and healthy development of children
 Article 39:A – equal justice and free legal aid to poor.
 Article 41 – in case of unemployemtn, old age, sickness this article secures citizens for right to
work, education and public assistance
 Aricle 42 – just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief
 Article 43 – secure living wage and decent standard of living for all
 Aricle 43:A – takes steps to secure participation of workers right to manage company
 Aricle 47 – raise the standard of living and nutrition for public health.

Gandhian principles – Gandhi was against urbanization and industrialization.

 Article 40 - provide self government right to rural areas from panchayati raj system
 Article 43 – promote cottage industries on individual or corporate basis in rural areas.
 43:A- promote coporative societies
 Article 46 – promote economic and social interests of scs sts and other weaker sections and
kprotect them from injustice
 Article 47 – prohibit the use of intoxicants ie alchohol and drugs
 Article 48 – prohibit cow slaughter, calves, milchs and other draught cattles

Liberal intellectual principles – promotes the idea of liberalism

 article 44 – uniform civil code throughout the country

 article 45 – provide early childhood and education care for all children before they turn 6 years
old.
 Article 48 – organize agriclultre and animal husbandry on modern scientific lines
 Article 49 – protect national monuments.
 Article 50 – separate judiciary and executive in public service of the state.
 Article 51 - promote international peace and harmony. And friendly neighborhood relations
 Encourage setteling international disputes by arbitrations
Indian constitution under article 37 makes it clear that dpsp should be the aim of the
governments in governance or making laws

Fundamental duties – added after 42nd amendment act 1976 by swarn sing committee during
emergency indra Gandhi. Based on Japanese model but concept from USSR.
Its absoluttly amendable.
 Swarn singh committee wanted it to be justiciable
 But parliament decalred it injusticiable
 During congress govt 10 fundamnetal rights were agreed upon and added in article 51A
of the constitution under chapter 4A non justiciable
 86th amendment act 2002 during BJP govt 11 th FD was added in the constitution which
said 6-14 years kids will be sent to education institutes
 Constitution amendments – the need for the amendments is that the time keeps on
changing and with time a civilization has to face new challenges hence amendments are
needed and the amendments itself is the part and parcel of Indian constitution as it is
said to be the living document.
  IC is neither a rigid nor a flexible constitution
 Indian constitution is a quasi fedral constitution ie center is more powerful than states.
 India has taken rigidity from US and flexibility from UK

Constitutional provisions - constitution empowers parliament for amendments.

 Parliament had a limitless power to amend constitution

 Part 20 in article 368 empowers parliament for the amendments
 To maintain a check and balance over this power in keshav nanda bharti case 1973 it was
said by judiciary that amendments can be done whatever and wherever but the basic
structure of the constitution cannot be changed.

Procedure of amendments –

 As the structure of is is quasi federal so only center can introduce CAB (cosnt.
Amendment bill) in any of the house
 Unlike money bill any member of parliament can introduce it be it minister or a private
member. It doesn’t even require prez permission before introducing
 It has to be passed in both of the houses by a special majority(50% of the present and
voting members must sign it) which means 2/3 rd member of parliament
 Both houses must pass cab separately in case of disagreement there is no provision of
joint meeting for the passage of the bill.
 With respect to the state amendments it has to be passed with a simple majority of
present and voting
 Once the bill is passed from both of the houses it goes to president and prez is bound to
give his assent he can neither reject nor send it back for reconsideration
 Once prez signs it becomes an act.

Types of amendments – there are 2 types of amenements under article 368 and 1 beyond article 368

 Simple majority which is beyond article 368

 Special majority ie 2/3rd which has to be passed in central legislature only (under art. 368)
 Special majority which includes state legislature also atleast more than half of the states must
pass it. (art. 368)
Some examples of simple majority cases –

 Abolition and creation of state legislature.

 Accepting or terminating someone’s citizenship
 Fifth schedule ie sc sts
 Sixth schedule is tribal areas
 Election of parliament and state legislature

Some examples of special majority –

 FR amendments (no role of states)

 DPSP amendments (no role of states)

Some examples of amendments of federal structure ie (center and state both) – in center special
majority is required and in states simple majority

 Amendments in election of prez and its manner

 Extent of legislative and executive powers of union and state
 Supreme court and high court
 Any lists in the seventh schedule

Criticism – no amendments can originate from states. Some parts can be amended as a normal
legislation and no time limits given to state for approval.

There is a wide scope for judicial review if the amendment process is sketchy and only half of the state
assent is needed for the change in union structure.

Basic structure of constitution.

Golakhnanda case

Keshavnadna bharti v state of kerela