The doctrine of basic structure of the Constitution was laid down by the Supreme Court in which case?
- A.Golaknath v State of Punjab
- B.Kesavananda Bharati v State of Kerala
- C.Minerva Mills v Union of India
- D.Shankari Prasad v Union of India
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Kesavananda Bharati v State of Kerala. The judgment was delivered on 24 April 1973 by a bench of thirteen judges, the largest ever assembled in the Supreme Court, and the majority of seven to six held that Parliament may amend any provision of the Constitution but cannot damage or destroy its basic structure. Option A is wrong because Golaknath, decided in 1967, held fundamental rights to be wholly unamendable, a stricter position that Kesavananda replaced. Option C is wrong because Minerva Mills came seven years later and only applied the doctrine, using it to strike down the clauses of the Forty-second Amendment that had barred judicial review of amendments. Option D is wrong because Shankari Prasad, in 1951, took the opposite view that an amendment is not law under Article 13 and upheld the First Amendment. Remember the sequence: Shankari Prasad, Sajjan Singh, Golaknath, then Kesavananda.
Read the full article: Landmark Supreme Court Judgments: Cases and Doctrines
Practice Questions
View allIn which case did the Supreme Court hold that a constitutional amendment is law within the meaning of Article 13 and that fundamental rights cannot be abridged?
- A.Sajjan Singh v State of Rajasthan
- B.I.C. Golaknath v State of Punjab
- C.Waman Rao v Union of India
- D.I.R. Coelho v State of Tamil Nadu
Show answer
Golaknath v State of Punjab. In 1967 an eleven-judge bench held by six votes to five that an amendment of the Constitution is law for the purposes of Article 13, so Parliament could not abridge fundamental rights, and it softened the blow by applying the doctrine of prospective overruling to…
Read the full explanation →The judgment in Maneka Gandhi v Union of India (1978) is chiefly remembered for widening the scope of which Article?
- A.Article 19
- B.Article 21
- C.Article 32
- D.Article 368
Show answer
The case arose from the impounding of a passport, and the court held that the procedure by which the state takes away life or personal liberty must be just, fair and reasonable, which read the substance of due process into Article 21 and replaced the narrow view taken in A.K.
Read the full explanation →In Minerva Mills v Union of India (1980), the Supreme Court struck down clauses inserted by which constitutional amendment?
- A.Twenty-fourth Amendment
- B.Thirty-ninth Amendment
- C.Forty-second Amendment
- D.Forty-fourth Amendment
Show answer
That amendment had added clauses to Article 368 declaring that an amendment could not be questioned in any court and that there was no limit on the amending power; the court held those clauses void because judicial review and the balance between fundamental rights and directive principles are part of…
Read the full explanation →The National Judicial Appointments Commission and the Ninety-ninth Constitutional Amendment were struck down by the Supreme Court in which year?
- A.2013
- B.2014
- C.2015
- D.2017
Show answer
In the case known as the Fourth Judges Case the court held by four to one that the commission would let the executive influence the appointment of judges, that the independence of the judiciary is part of the basic structure, and that the collegium therefore revived.
Read the full explanation →The ceiling of fifty per cent on reservation and the exclusion of the creamy layer were laid down in which judgment?
- A.State of Madras v Champakam Dorairajan
- B.Indra Sawhney v Union of India
- C.M. Nagaraj v Union of India
- D.Mohini Jain v State of Karnataka
Show answer
Decided in 1992 by a nine-judge bench, it upheld reservation in central services for other backward classes, fixed an ordinary ceiling of fifty per cent on total reservation and directed that the better off among the backward classes, the creamy layer, be kept out.
Read the full explanation →