Important Amendments

2. Provided for the saving of laws providing for the acquisition of estates etc.

3. Added 9th Schedule to protect the land reform and other laws included in it from the judicial review.

4. Added three more grounds of restrictions on freedom of speech and expression, viz., public order, friendly relations with foreign states and incitement to an offense. It also made the restrictions ‘reasonable’ and thus, justifiable in nature.

5. Provided that state trading and nationalisation of any trade or business by the state is not to be invalid on the ground of violation of the right to trade or business.

2. It amended Article 170 (Composition of the Legislative Assemblies)

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Constitutional (15th Amendment) Act, 1963

2. Increased the retirement age of high court judges from 60 to 62 years.

3. Provided for the appointment of retired judges of the high court’s as acting judges of the same court.

4. Provided the compensatory allowance to judges who are transferring from one High court to another.

5. Enabled the retired judge of the High Court to act as ad-hoc judge of the Supreme Court.

6. Provided for the procedure for determining the age of the Supreme Court and High Court judges.

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The Constitution (24th Amendment) Act, 1971

2. Made it compulsory for the president to give his assent to a constitutional Amendment Bill.

2. The Amendment established beyond doubt the supremacy of Parliament over the other wings of Government; gave the Directive Principles precedence over fundamental rights enumerated for the first time a set of ten Fundamental Duties.

3. It further imposed limits on the power and jurisdiction of the judiciary; raised the term of the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha from five to six years; authorised the use of Central armed forces in any State to deal with law and order problems, made the President bound by the advice of the Council of Ministers and envisaged the establishment of administrative tribunals for service matters of Government employees and also other tribunals for economic offences.

4. The Act also clearly laid down that no Constitutional Amendment could be questioned in any court of law.

2. The new law, which was ratified by more than half of the States in accordance with the Constitution, also restores legislative powers to the States to make appropriate provision for anti-national activities consistent with the Fundamental Rights. Under the Act, the judiciary has also been restored to its rightful place.

3. The Supreme Court will now have the power to invalidate state laws, a power taken away by the 42nd Amendment Act. The High Courts will also be able to go into the question of the constitutional validity of Central laws thereby enabling persons living in distant places to obtain speedy justice without having to come to the Supreme Court.

2. The Act removes major distortions in the Constitution introduced during the Emergency. The duration of the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies has been reduced from six to five years—the normal term which was extended during the Emergency under the 42nd Amendment to achieve some political purposes.

3. The Right to Property ceases to be a Fundamental Right and becomes only a legal right according to the Constitution 44th Amendment.

4. The Act also extends, for the first time since independence, constitutional protection for publication of the proceedings of Parliament and State Legislatures, except in cases where it is proved to be “malicious”.

5. Another important feature of the Act is that any proclamation of Emergency needs henceforward, be issued by the President only after receiving the advice of the Cabinet as a whole in writing. The President will not be called upon to act on the basis of advice by the Prime Minister on his own without consulting his Cabinet. Other safeguards provide that the proclamation will have to be adopted by a two-thirds majority of the members of both Houses of Parliament within a month.

5. The 44th Amendment provides safeguards against future subversion of the Constitution for establishing an authoritarian regime. It contains provisions that are designed to make it impossible to impose the kind of emergency the country had experienced for 19 months.