Kesavananda Bharati Vs. State of Kerala and Anr 24th April, 1973






Introduction




The petitioner of this case, Kesavananda Bharati Sripadagalvaru was a spiritual leader of a math in Kerala. The stated petitioner of the Kesavananda Bharati Vs. State of Kerala case challenged the Constitution (29th Amendment) Act, 1972 for putting the Kerala Land Reforms Act (1963) into the Schedule XI of the Constitution of India. In order to make the jurisdiction of the case, a bench of 13 honourable judges was formed. 






Facts of the Kesavananda Bharati Vs. The state of Kerala and Anr 24th April 1973 case




The petitioner of the aforementioned case filed a writ petition against the attempt of the Government of Kerala to impose restriction over the management of the property owned by the Hindu Math, of which, the petitioner was the head. In this regard, it is to be mentioned that Nanabhoy Palkivala, a senior lawyer (then), convinced the petitioner Shree Keshavananda Bharati to file a writ petition under Article 32 for the violation of Article 26. Article 26 provides an absolute right to different religious sects to manage the properties, which are religiously owned by themselves without any government intervention. 


In this context, it is required to be noted that the Indian Government had made three major amendments after the landmark cases of Madhvrao Scindia in 1970, R. C. Cooper in 1970 and Golaknath Case in 1967,  The following amendments were made by the Parliament in 1971:







  • Clause 4 in Article 13 were introduced through The Constitution (24th Amendment) Act 1971. This was made in order to protect Article 368 from any action as prescribed in Article 13 of the Indian Constitution.






  • In order to restrict the scopes of Article 13 of the Constitution of India, two additional clauses, clause 1 and clause 3 were also introduced.






  • A modification in Article 31 of the Indian Constitution has also been made through The Constitution (25th Amendment) Act, 1971. The objective of this modification was to enhance the power of the government to make compulsory or normal acquisition of the private properties.






  • The Constitution (26th Amendment) Act, 1971 was also enacted to abolish the financial privileges provided to the Princely States.






The petition made by the petitioner challenged all the amendments made by the Indian Government. This had also challenged the judgment made by the Supreme Court of India in the Golaknath Case. Thus, a larger bench was formed in order to judge the stated case. Thus, it can be stated that the amendments made in the Constitution of India by the Indian Government were challenged through this case and the power of the government to amend the constitution was the primary fact of the case. 






Issue of Kesavananda Bharati Vs. State of Kerala




The issues of the case were as below:





      • Whether the Constitution (24th Amendment) Act, 1971 and 29th amendment are valid?





      • Whether the amended provisions of 368 is valid?





      • Whether 2(a), 2(b) & 3 of the Constitution (25th Amendment) Act, 1971 is valid?














Judgment 




As specified above, the judgment of the above-mentioned case was made by a bench of 13 Judges. The judgment of the case includes the following:




    • The amendments made by the Indian Government were held as constitutionally valid.








    • The judgment made by the Supreme Court of India in Golaknath Case was over-ruled.








    • It was clearly opined by the Supreme Court that the parliament has the power to make constitutional amendments. However, the BASIC SPIRIT of the Constitution of India CANNOT BE CHANGED by parliament.


    • A new concept of Doctrine of the Basic structure was introduced by the apex court of the country, and it was held that the parliament can make amendments, however, it cannot violate the basic structure of the Constitution.










Conclusions 




As per the discussion made above, the Supreme Court in the Keshavananda Case introduced the concept of the basic structure of the Constitution of India. According to the judgment, the parliament shall have the power of amending the constitution as long as it violates the basic structure. In this regard, it is to be stated that the basic structure of the constitution includes:



  • The Constitution's supremacy



  • Secular nature of the Constitution



  • Democratic and Republic form of government



  • Separation of power between the executive, judiciary and legislative



  • Federal characteristic of the Constitution



  • The mandate of building a welfare state



  • Sovereignty



  • Unity and integrity of the state



  • Democratic nature of the polity



  • Country's unity



  • Individual freedom and rights for the citizen.