Constitutional Amendments Flashcards
The Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951
In June 1951, the Constitution (First Amendment) Act was passed, and the following Amendment in the Constitution were inserted :
(i) To Article 15, a new clause (4) was added:
(ii) clauses (2) and (6) of Article 19 were recast;
(iii) After Article 31, Article 31A and 31B were inserted;
(iv) For original Article 85, a new Article was substituted;
(v) In Article 87, clauses (1) and (2) were recast;
(vi) For the original Article 174, a new Article was substituted;
(vii) In Article 176, clauses (1) and (2) were recast:
(viii) Clause (1) of Article 341 was recast; and similarly, clause (1) of Article 342, sub-clause (a) of Article 342, sub clause (a) of clause (3) of Article 372, and clause (1) of Article 376 were also recast;
(ix) After the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution a Ninth Schedule was added and thirteen laws passed by State Legislatures were included in it so that those Acts might not be challenged in courts.
The main purpose of the Amendment was the removal of certain practical difficulties created by court decisions in several cases such as Kameshwar Singh vs. State of Bihar, Romesh Thapar vs. State of Madras, Brij Bhusan vs. State of Delhi and Motilal vs. Government of Uttar Pradesh. The issues involved in these cases were numerous, such as the scope of the fundamental right of freedom of speech, acquisition of Zamindari (land) of intermediaries, conflict between a citizen’s fundamental right to practise any profession, or to carry on any business or trade (Article 19) and State monopoly of any
trade, and so on.
The Constitution (Second Amendment) Act, 1952
The Second Amendment, amended Article
81 in order to remove the prescribed limit of
7,50,000 of the population for one member to be
elected to the Lok Sabha. According to the
original provision, at least one member was to
be elected to the Lok Sabha for every 7,50,000 of
the population. It was further provided that the
maximum number of elected member to the Lok
Sabha should not exceed 500.
The Constitution (Third Amendment) Act, 1954
The Third Amendment brought about
changes in the Seventh Schedule consisting of
the three Legislative Lists and entry 33 of the
Concurrent List was substituted by a new one.
The Constitution (Fourth Amendment) Act, 1955
Article 31 and 31A were amended by the
Constitution Fourth Amendment Act. Clause (2)
of Article 31 clause (1) of Article 31A were
substituted by new clauses. As a result of these,
the adequacy of the quantum of compensation
paid for the compulsory acquisition of property
for ‘a public purpose’ could not be questioned in
a court of law. It also amended Article 305 and
the Ninth Schedule.
The Constitution (Fifth Amendment) Act, 1955
The Constitution (Fifth Amendment) Act
amended Article 3. In the Constitution there was
no time limit during which a State Legislature
should express its boundaries, which the Centre
may like to make. With the help of this
amendment, it was provided that the State will
be required to express its views on such matters
within such period as may be specified in the
reference or within such further period, as the
President may allow.
The Constitution (Sixth Amendment) Act, 1956
In this Act, the Seventh Schedule to the
Constitution was amended and in the Union
List, a new entry was added after Entry 92 in
the State List, a new Entry was substituted for
Entry 54. It also amended Articles 269 and 286
dealing with inter-state Sales-tax.
The Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956
The Seventh Amendment brought about the
most comprehensive changes so far in the
Constitution. This amendment was designed to
implement the State Reorganisation Act. The
Second and Seventh schedules were substantially
amended for the purpose of the States
Reorganization Act.
The Constitution (Eight Amendment) Act, 1959
The Act extended the period of reservation
seats in Lok Sabha and State Legislatures for the
Anglo-Indians, the Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes by another 10 years.
The Constitution (Ninth Amendment) Act, 1960
It provided for the transfer of certain
territories of India to Pakistan under an
agreement between India and Pakistan as a part
of a comprehensive settlement of border disputes
between the two countries.
The Constitution (Tenth Amendment) Act, 1961
The Tenth Amendment integrates the areas
of Free Dadra and Nagar Haveli with the Union
of India and provides for their administration
under the regulation making powers of the
President.
The Constitution (Eleventh Amendment) Act, 1961
It amended Article 71 so as to make it clear
that the election of the President or the Vice
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President shall not be challenged on the ground
of any vacancy for whatever reason in the
appropriate electoral college. It also obviates the
necessity of a joint meeting of the two Houses of
Parliament (Article 66) by constituting them into
an electoral college for the election of the Vice-
President.
The Constitution (Twelfth Amendment) Act, 1962
The main object of the Amendment was to
add Union Territories of Goa, Daman and Diu
to the Union of India and for this First Schedule
of the Constitution was amended.
The Constitution (Thirteenth Amendment) Act, 1962
The Act provides the creation of Nagaland
as the Sixteenth State of the Union. The
Amendment provides also for the vesting of
certain special responsibilities in the Governor
of Nagaland.
The Constitution (Fourteenth Amendment) Act, 1962
The amendment provides for the
incorporation of the former French
Establishments in India, under the name
Pondicherry, as an integral part of the territory
of the Indian Union. It also amended Article 31
to increase, from a maximum 20 to 25, the
number of seats assigned in the Lok Sabha for
the Union Territories.
The Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Act, 1963
The amendment raised the retirement age of
High Court Judges from 60 to 62 years. It also
empowered the various High Courts to hear
cases against the Union Government.
The Constitution (Sixteenth Amendment) Act, 1963
The Act seeks to enable Parliament to make
laws provident penalty for any person
questioning the sovereignty and integrity of
India. Under the provisions of the this
Amendment, a person shall not be qualified to
be chosen to fill a seat in Parliament or in the
Legislature of State unless, inter-alia, he makers
or subscribes before a person authorised by the
Election Commission an oath or affirmation that
he will bear true faith and allegiance to the
Constitution and will uphold the sovereignty
and integrity of India.
The Constitution (Seventeenth Amendment) Act, 1964
The Act amended the definition of the term
‘estate’ in Article 31A to include lands held under
‘Ryotwari settlement’ and also other lands in
respect of which provisions are normally made
in land reform enactments. It also amended the
Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to include
therein 44 State enactments related to land
reforms in order to remove any uncertainty or
dobut that may arise with regard to their
validity.
The Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 1966
The amendment provides for the creation of
new States, namely, Punjab and Haryana as a
result of the reorganisation of the former State
of Punjab and the Union Territory of Himachal
Pradesh.
The Constitution (Nineteenth Amendment) Act, 1966
The Act modified Article 324 so as to
terminate the jurisdiction of Election Tribunals
to decide election disputes. The Amendment
withdrew from the Election Commission the
power of setting up Election Tribunals.
The Constitution (Twentieth Amendment) Act, 1966
The Act inserted a new Article 233A
immediately after Article 233 in order to validate
the appointment of District Judges, which might
not have conformed fully to the different
Constitutional requirements, which were in
existent prior to 1966.
The Constitution (Twenty-first Amendment) Act, 1967
It amended the Eighth Schedule to the
Constitution by including ‘Sindhi’
therein.
The Constitution (Twenty-second Amendment) Act, 1969
The amendment conferred legislative power
on Parliament for the purpose of creating an
autonomous Hill State within the State of Assam.
Accordingly, Parliament passed the Assam
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Reorganization (Meghalaya) Act, 1969 to set up
the State of Meghalaya within the State of
Assam
The Constitution (Twenty-third Amendment) Act, 1969
It deals with the questions of reservation of
seat in Parliament and State Assemblies for
Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Anglo-
Indian and further extend the period of
reservation by another ten years, which means
in effect thirty years from the commencement of
the Constitution.
The Constitution (Twenty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1971
It amended Article 13 and 368 with a view
to removing all possible doubts regarding the
power of Parliament to amend the Constitution
and procedure thereof. It gets over the Golak
Nath ruling and asserts the power of Parliament,
denied to in the Golak Nath, to amend
Fundamental Rights.
The Constitution (Twenty-fifth) Amendment Act, 1971
The 25th amendment of the Constitution in
1971 added a new clause, Article 31C to the
Constitution. Upto 1971, the position was that
Fundamental Rights prevailed over the Directive
Principles of State Policy and that a law enacted
to implement a Directive Principle could not be
valid if it conflicted with a Fundamental Right.
Article 31C sought to change this relationship
to some extent by conferring primacy on Articles
39(b) and 39(c) over Articles 14, 19 and 31.
The Constitution (Twenty-sixth Amendment) Act, 1971
It abolished Articles 291 and 362 of the
Constitution and also inserted a new Article
362A after Article 363. the cumulative effect of
these changes was the end of the recognition
granted to the former rulers of Indian States and
the abolition of Privy Purses.
The Constitution (Twenty-seventh Amendment) Act, 1971
The Act was enacted to implement the
decision to establish the Union Territory of
Mizoram. It empowered Parliament to create a
legislature and Council of Minister for the new
territory.
The Constitution (Twenty-eight Amendment) Act, 1972
The amendment deleted Article 314 of the
Constitution, which had given protection to the
I.C.S. Officers, condition of service and privileges
and inserted a new Article 312A.
The Constitution (Twenty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1972
By the twenty-ninth Amendment Act, 1972
two Kerala Acts dealing with land reforms were
included in the 9th Schedule to the Constitution.
The Constitution (Thirtieth Amendment) Act, 1972
By this amendment, Article 133 was recast
so as to redefine the Civil Appellate Jurisdiction
of the Supreme Court. The result of this
Amendment is that while any case involving an
important question of law can reach the Supreme
Court by way of appeal, a case however large
the amount involved therein but involving no
substantial point of law, would fail to reach the
Supreme Court.
The Constitution (Thirty-first Amendment) Act, 1973
By this amendment, the strength of the Lok
Sabha was increased from 525 to 545 members.
This was done to accommodate the increase in
population as revealed by the 1971 Census.
Accordingly, Article 81(i)(a) was suitably
amended.
The Constitution (Thirty-second Amendment) Act, 1973
The amendment Act was enacted to make
few special provisions for the State of Andhra
Pradash to satisfy the aspirations of the people
of the Telangana region.
The Constitution (Thirty-third Amendment) Act, 1974
It amended Articles 101 and 190. Before this
Amendment, the resignation of a member of
legislature became effective the moment it was
tendered. This position is now changed. A
resignation becomes effective only after it has
been accepted by the Presiding Officer of the
House concerned who may refuse to accept the
same if he is satisfied that the resignation is not
voluntary or genuine. This precautionary
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provision appeared to be necessary to avoid the
members of Parliament or state legislatures being
forced to resign.
The Constitution (Thirty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1974
By this amendment twenty State Acts
concerning land ceiling and land tenure reforms
were added to the Ninth Schedule to the
Constitution.
The Constitution (Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Amendment) Acts, 1974-1975
The 35th Amendment Act introduced an
innovation in the Indian Constitution by
conferring on Sikkim the status of an associate
in the Indian Union. This was however, a shortlined
experiment. The people of Sikkim desired
to be and integral part of India. Accordingly, the
Constitution Thirty-sixth Amendment Act was
enacted in 1975 to confer full-fledged statehood
on Sikkim.
The Constitution (Thirty-seventh Amendment) Act, 1975
The Amendment upgraded the status of
Arunachal Pradesh as a Union Territory. Articles
239A and 240 were amended so as to authorize
Parliament to create for Arunachal Pradesh a
Legislature and Council of Ministers.
The Constitution (Thirty-eight Amendment) Act, 1975
This Amendment Act was enacted during
the emergency to make certain modification in
the emergency provisions. The Presidential
‘satisfaction’ to issue a proclamation was
declared to be final and conclusive. A
classificatory clause was added to Article 356(1)
so as to make Presidential ‘satisfaction’ to issue
a proclamation there under as ‘final and
conclusive’ which shall not be questioned in any
court on any ground.
This Amendment also declared that the
‘satisfaction’ of the President and a State
Governor to issue ordinances would be ‘final and
conclusive’ and shall not be questioned in any
court on any ground’.
The Constitution (Thirty-ninth) Amendment) Act, 1975
The voiding of the election to the Lok Sabha
of PM Indira Gandhi by the Allahabad High
Court in 1975 on the petition of Raj Narain led
to the enactment of the 39th Amendment Act,
1975. It introduced changes in the method
deciding election disputes relating to the four
high officials of the state, viz. President, Vice-
President, Prime Minister and the Speaker.
Under the new Article 71(2), Parliament by the
law was to establish some ‘authority’ or ‘body’
for deciding such disputes, and its decisions shall
not be in question any court.
The Constitution (Fortieth Amendment) Act, 1976
The Amendment Act extended immunity to
64 Central and State statues by including them
in the IX Schedule. These statues pertained to
lad reform, Urban Ceiling and prevention of
publication of objectionable matter.