CDS (II) 2021 General Knowledge · Question 89 of 120

Correct — A, The Constitution (Eighty-Fifth) Amendment Act has inserted the 'Right to Education' under Article 21A. That is the statement that is wrong, and in a stem asking which is not correct it is therefore the answer. Article 21A was inserted by the Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002, which also substituted Article 45 to direct the State towards early childhood care for children below six and added the fundamental duty in Article 51A(k); the article itself was brought into force on 1 April 2010 alongside the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. The Eighty-fifth Amendment Act, 2001 did something quite different — it amended Article 16(4A) to allow reservation in promotion with consequential seniority for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and it did so retrospectively. The other three statements in the question are accurate.

• (b)Article 22 talks about preventive detention. — This is correct, so it is not the answer. Article 22 is headed 'Protection against arrest and detention in certain cases', and its later clauses deal specifically with preventive detention and the safeguards attached to it.
• (c)Right to Constitutional Remedies is in Part-III of the Constitution. — Correct as well. Article 32, the right to move the Supreme Court for enforcement of Fundamental Rights, sits in Part III and is itself a Fundamental Right — Ambedkar's 'heart and soul' of the Constitution.
• (d)Writ jurisdiction of High Courts is wider than the Supreme Court of India. — Correct. Article 226 empowers a High Court to issue writs 'for the enforcement of any of the rights conferred by Part III and for any other purpose', while Article 32 is confined to Fundamental Rights — so the High Court's writ jurisdiction is the wider of the two.

Three separate ideas are being tested together here. First, that an amendment number is a fact to be remembered precisely, because adjacent numbers did entirely different things. Second, that Article 22 divides into two halves — the safeguards for an ordinary arrest, and the separate and weaker regime that applies to preventive detention. Third, that although both the Supreme Court and the High Courts issue writs, the two jurisdictions differ in scope: Article 32 only for Fundamental Rights, Article 226 for those and for any other purpose as well.

Amendment numbers around the turn of the century cluster confusingly — the 85th of 2001 on promotion seniority, the 86th of 2002 on education, the 87th on the census basis for delimitation. The way to hold the education one is by the pair of dates: made a Fundamental Right in 2002, brought into force in 2010 with the statute that gave it content. On the writ point, note that the wider scope of Article 226 does not make the High Court superior — Article 32 is itself a Fundamental Right and cannot ordinarily be taken away, whereas Article 226 is not.

• Article 21A was inserted by the Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002 and brought into force on 1 April 2010.
• The same amendment substituted Article 45 and inserted the fundamental duty in Article 51A(k).
• The Constitution (Eighty-fifth Amendment) Act, 2001 amended Article 16(4A) to allow reservation in promotion with consequential seniority for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
• Article 22 covers protection against arrest and detention, including the separate regime for preventive detention.
• Article 226 allows a High Court to issue writs for enforcement of Part III rights 'and for any other purpose', a wider field than Article 32.

• Reading 85th for 86th; the two amendments are a year and a subject apart.
• Assuming Article 21A was enforceable from 2002; it came into force on 1 April 2010.
• Concluding from the wider scope of Article 226 that the High Court's remedy is the stronger one; Article 32 is itself a Fundamental Right and Article 226 is not.

As a which-statement-is-not-correct item on the Constitution, as an amendment-to-article pairing, or as a comparison of Article 32 with Article 226.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Article 21A of the Constitution of India was brought into force on which one of the following dates?

  • (a)12 December 2002
  • (b)26 January 2005
  • (c)1 April 2010
  • (d)15 August 2012

  Answer(c) 1 April 2010 — the same day the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 came into effect.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following writs is issued to question the authority of a person holding a public office?

  • (a)Habeas corpus
  • (b)Quo warranto
  • (c)Certiorari
  • (d)Prohibition

  Answer(b) Quo warranto — it asks by what authority a person occupies a public office.