Consider the following statements regarding the 24th Constitutional Amendment Act:

1. It excluded the Constitutional Amendment from the purview of laws under Article 13.

2. The Supreme Court in the Golaknath case upheld the validity of the 24th Constitutional Amendment Act.

3. 24th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1971 accorded precedence to Article 39(b) and (c) over Article 14 and 19.

Select the correct answer from the codes given below:

Solution

• Statement 1 is correct: The 24th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1971 amended the Article 13 and Article 368 of the Constitutional. It changed Article 13 to mean that the Constitutional Amendments do not constitute a law and hence cannot be challenged. However, the Supreme Court held in Kesavananda Bharati (1973) that even Constitutional amendments can be challenged on the grounds that it violates the basic structure of the Constitution. The 24th Constitutional Amendment Act also amended the Article 368 and gave explicit power to the Parliament to amend the Constitution. • Statement 2 is incorrect: In the Golaknath case (1967), the Supreme Court held that Fundamental Rights can not be amended or altered to give effect to any of the Directive Principles. It was in response to this judgement of the Court that the Parliament came up with the 24th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1971. • Statement 3 is incorrect: It was the 25th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1971 that inserted Article 31C as per which any law that seeks to implement the Articles 39 (b) and 39 (c) to the Constitution cannot be challenged on the ground that it contravenes with the Article 14, 19 and 31 of the Constitution. However, in the Keshavanada Bharati case (1973), the Supreme Court held that Judicial Review forms a part of the basic structure of the Constitution. Article 39 (b) deals with the equitable distribution of the material resources of a community for the common good. Article 39 (c) deals with preventing the concentration of wealth and means of production.