Which judgment fixed 24 April 1973 as the cut-off date for the protection that the Ninth Schedule gives to laws?
- A.Waman Rao v Union of India
- B.Indira Nehru Gandhi v Raj Narain
- C.S.P. Gupta v Union of India
- D.Berubari Union case
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, Waman Rao v Union of India. Decided in 1981, it held that laws placed in the Ninth Schedule before 24 April 1973, the day the Kesavananda Bharati judgment was delivered, stay protected, while those added afterwards can be examined for damage to the basic structure, a position confirmed in I.R. Coelho in 2007. Option B is wrong because Indira Nehru Gandhi v Raj Narain, in 1975, struck down the clause of the Thirty-ninth Amendment that had taken the Prime Minister's election out of the courts. Option C is wrong because S.P. Gupta, the First Judges Case of 1981, widened the rule of standing and encouraged public interest litigation. Option D is wrong because the Berubari Union case of 1960 held that the Preamble is not a part of the Constitution, a view that Kesavananda reversed. The date in this answer is worth memorising because it is also the date of the Kesavananda judgment.
Read the full article: Landmark Supreme Court Judgments: Cases and Doctrines
Practice Questions
View allThe 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
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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.
Read the full explanation →In 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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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