CDS (II) 2020 General Knowledge · Question 22 of 120

Correct — A, Article 31A and Article 31C. Both articles are drafted in exactly the same shape: they provide that a law of a described kind shall not be deemed void on the ground that it is inconsistent with, or takes away or abridges, the rights conferred by Article 14 or Article 19. Article 31A, inserted by the First Amendment in 1951, saves laws providing for the acquisition of estates and for the taking over of management of property, the amalgamation of corporations and the modification of mining leases — the land reform article. Article 31C, inserted by the Twenty-fifth Amendment with effect from 1972, saves laws giving effect to the directive principles in clauses (b) and (c) of Article 39. The words 'article 14 or article 19' are the printed text of both, substituted into 31A by the Forty-fourth Amendment when Article 31 and the fundamental right to property were taken away.

• (b)Article 31B and Article 31D — Both halves fail, for opposite reasons. Article 31B protects the Acts listed in the Ninth Schedule against inconsistency with any of the rights in Part III, not merely Articles 14 and 19, so it is a wider shield rather than an exception to these two. Article 31D was omitted altogether by the Forty-third Amendment with effect from 1978 and no longer exists.
• (c)Article 12 and Article 13 — These are the definitional articles of Part III. Article 12 defines the State and Article 13 declares that laws inconsistent with fundamental rights are void — the opposite of an exception.
• (d)Article 16 and Article 17 — Both are themselves fundamental rights — equality of opportunity in public employment and the abolition of untouchability. A right cannot be an exception to another right.

The saving articles are the constitutional record of the long argument between land reform and the right to property. Article 31A came in 1951 after courts struck down zamindari abolition laws; Article 31B, of the same amendment, created the Ninth Schedule as a blanket shelter for named statutes; Article 31C came in 1971 to protect laws enacted for the directive principles in Article 39(b) and (c) on the distribution of material resources and the prevention of concentration of wealth. The courts have trimmed both of the later devices: in Kesavananda Bharati in 1973 the Supreme Court struck down the clause of Article 31C that barred any court from asking whether a law really gave effect to the policy, and in Minerva Mills in 1980 it struck down the Forty-second Amendment's attempt to widen 31C to cover all the directive principles.

Two habits of reading settle this item quickly. First, look for the pair whose text actually names Articles 14 and 19; 31A and 31C both do, in identical words. Second, remember that 31B is not restricted to two articles but shelters Ninth Schedule laws from the whole of Part III — a candidate who knows only that 31B protects the Ninth Schedule may pick option (b) without noticing that it is the wrong scope, and may not know that 31D no longer exists. Present-day position: the Ninth Schedule is no longer an absolute shelter either, since in I. R. Coelho in 2007 the Supreme Court held that laws placed there after 24 April 1973 remain open to challenge if they damage the basic structure.

• Article 31A was inserted by the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951 and saves laws for the acquisition of estates and similar measures.
• Article 31C was inserted by the Constitution (Twenty-fifth Amendment) Act, 1971 with effect from 20 April 1972.
• Both save the described laws from being void for inconsistency with Article 14 or Article 19 — the words in 31A were substituted by the Forty-fourth Amendment in 1978 for 'article 14, article 19 or article 31'.
• Article 31B shelters the Acts and Regulations listed in the Ninth Schedule from inconsistency with any provision of Part III.
• Article 31D, on laws in respect of anti-national activities, was omitted by the Constitution (Forty-third Amendment) Act, 1977 with effect from 13 April 1978.

• Picking 31B because it is the famous one. Its protection is against all of Part III, which makes it too wide for a stem that names only Articles 14 and 19.
• Not knowing that Article 31D was repealed, which is what makes option (b) doubly wrong.
• Treating Articles 12 and 13 as exceptions when they are the articles that make fundamental rights enforceable against the State.

As a which-articles item on the exceptions to Articles 14 and 19, or as a statements item on the Ninth Schedule and the scope of Article 31B.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Laws placed in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution are protected by which Article?

  • (a)Article 31A
  • (b)Article 31B
  • (c)Article 31C
  • (d)Article 32

  Answer(b) Article 31B — inserted by the First Amendment in 1951, it protects the listed Acts against inconsistency with any of the fundamental rights in Part III.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The clause of Article 31C barring courts from examining whether a law actually gives effect to the policy it declares was struck down in which case?

  • (a)Golaknath
  • (b)Kesavananda Bharati
  • (c)Minerva Mills
  • (d)I. R. Coelho

  Answer(b) Kesavananda Bharati, in 1973 — Minerva Mills, in 1980, later struck down the separate attempt by the Forty-second Amendment to extend Article 31C to all the directive principles.