TMI Blog1951 (10) TMI 22X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion Act. Certain zemindars, feeling themselves aggrieved, attacked the validity of those Acts in courts of law on the ground that they contravened the fundamental rights conferred on them by Part III of the Constitution. The High Court of Patna held that the Act passed in Bihar was unconstitutional while the High Courts of Allahabad and Nagpur upheld the validity of the corresponding legislation in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh respectively. Appeals from those decisions are pending in this Court. Petitions filed in this Court by some other zemindars seeking the determination of the same question are also pending. At this stage, the Union Government, with a view to put an end to all this litigation and to remedy what they considered to be certain defects brought to light in the working of the Constitution, brought forward a bill to amend the Constitution, which, after undergoing amendments in various particulars, was passed by the requisite majority as the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951, (hereinafter referred to as the Amendment Act). Swiftly reacting to this move of the Government the zemindars have brought the present petitions under article 32 of the Constitution ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... VI, they require ratification under clause (b) of the proviso to article 368, and not having been so ratified, they are void and unconstitutional. They are also ultra vires as they relate to matters enumerated in List II, with respect to which the State legislatures and not Parliament have the power to make laws. 4. Before dealing with these points it will be convenient to set out here the material portions of articles 368, 379 and 392, on the true construction of which these arguments have largely turned. 5. 368. An amendment of this Constitution may be initiated only by the introduction of a Bill for the purpose in either House of Parliament, and when the Bill is passed in each House by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting, it shall be presented to the President for his assent and upon such assent being given to the Bill, the Constitution shall stand amended in accordance with the terms of the Bill : Provided that if such amendment seeks to make any change in - (a) articles 54, 55, 73, 162 or 241, or (b) Chapter IV of Part V, Chapter V of Part VI, or Chapter I ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... m, by a special convention, by legislation under a special procedure, and so on. But, which of these methods the framers of the Indian Constitution have adopted must be ascertained from the relevant provisions of the Constitution itself without any leaning based on a priori grounds or the analogy of other constitutions in favour of one method in preference to another. We accordingly turn to the provisions dealing with constitutional amendments. 10. Now, the Constitution provides for three classes of amendments of its provisions. First, those that can be effected by a bare majority such as that required for the passing of any ordinary law. The amendments contemplated in articles 4, 169 and 240 fall within this class, and they are specifically excluded from the purview of article 368. Secondly, those that can be effected by a special majority as laid down in article 368. All constitutional amendments other than those referred to above come within this category and must be effected by a majority of the total membership of each House as well as by a majority of not less than two thirds of the members of that House present and voting; and thirdly, those that require, in addition to t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ry to refer to the collective designation of the three units. 12. Apart from the intrinsic indication in article 368 referred to above, a convincing argument is to be found in article 2,3,4,169 and 240. As already stated, under these articles power is given to Parliament to make laws by a bare majority to amend certain parts of the Constitution; but in each case it is laid down that no such law should be deemed to be an amendment of the Constitution for the purpose of article 368. It would be quite unnecessary, and indeed inappropriate, to exclude these laws from the operation of article 368, which requires a special majority, if the power to amend under the latter article was not also given to Parliament. 13. Somewhat closely allied to the point discussed above is the objection based on the bill in the present case having been passed in an amended form, and not as originally introduced. It is not correct to say that article 368 is a complete code in respect of the procedure provided by it. There are gaps in the procedure as to how and after what notice a bill is to be introduced, how it is to be passed by each House and how the President's assent is to be obtained ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... mented by rules made by each House (article 118), the makers of the Constitution must be taken to have intended parliament to follow that procedure, so far as it may be applicable, consistently with the express provisions of article 368, when they entrusted to it the power of amending the Constitution. 15. The argument that a power entrusted to a Parliament consisting two Houses cannot be exercised under article 379 by the provisional Parliament sitting as a single chamber overlooks the scheme of the constitutional provisions in regard to Parliament. These provisions envisage a Parliament of two Houses functioning under the Constitution framed as they have been on that basis. But the frames were well aware that such a Parliament could not be constituted till after the first elections were held under the Constitution. It thus became necessary to make provision for the carrying on, in the meantime, of the work entrusted to Parliament under the Constitution, Accordingly, it was provided in article 379 that the Constituent Assembly should function as the provisional Parliament during the transitional period and exercise all the powers and perform all the duties conferred by the Cons ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... re an occasion for their removal actually arises. As already stated, difficulties are bound to arise in applying provisions, which, by their terms are applicable to a Parliament of two Houses, to the provisional Parliament sitting as a single chamber. Those difficulties, arising as they do out of the inappropriateness of the language of those provisions as applied to the provisional parliament, have to be removed by modifying that language to fit in with the situation created by article 379. There is nothing in that article to suggest that the President should wait, before adapting a particular article, till an occasion actually arose for the provisional Parliament to exercise the power conferred by that article. Nor is there any question here of the President removing by his adaptation any of the difficulties which the Constitution has deliberately placed in the way of its amendment. The adaptation leaves the requirement of a special majority untouched. The passing of an amendment bill by both Houses is no more a special requirement of such a bill than it is of any ordinary law made by Parliament. We are, therefore, of opinion that the adaptation of article 368 by the President wa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e certain fundamental rights in Part III and made them immune from interference by laws made by the State. We find it, however, difficult, in the absence of a clear indication to the contrary, to suppose that they also intended to make those rights immune from constitutional amendment. We are inclined to think that they must have had in mind what is of more frequent occurrence, that is, invasion of the rights of the subjects by the legislative and the executive organs of the State by means of laws and rules made in exercise of their legislative power and not the abridgment or nullification of such rights by alterations of the Constitution itself in exercise of sovereign constituent power. That power, through it has been entrusted to Parliament, has been so hedged about with restrictions that its exercise must be difficult and rare. On the other hand, the terms of article 368 are perfectly general and empower Parliament to amend the Constitution, without any exception whatever. Had it been intended to save the fundamental right from the operation of that provision, it would have been perfectly easy to make that intention clear by adding a proviso to that effect. In short, we have he ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... round that such Act, Regulation or provision is inconsistent with, or takes away or abridges any of the rights conferred by, any provisions of this Part, and notwithstanding any judgment, decree or order of any court or tribunal to the contrary, each of the said Acts and Regulations shall, subject to the power of any competent Legislature to repeal to repeal or amend it, continue in force. 20. It will be seen that these articles do not either in terms or in effect seek to make any change in article 226 or in articles 132 and 136. Articles 31A aims at saving laws providing of the compulsory acquisition by the State of a certain kind of property from the operation of article 13 read with other relevant articles in Part III, while article 31B purports to validate certain specified Acts and Regulations already passed, which, but for such a provision, would be liable to be impugned under article 13. It is not correct to say that the powers of the High Court under article 226 to issue writs for the enforcement of any of the rights conferred by part III or of this Court under articles 132 and 136 to entertain appeals from orders issuing or refusing such writs are in any way affected. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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