Which of the following Amendment Act of the Constitution deleted the Right to Property from the list of Fundamental Rights ?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — C, the 44th Constitution Amendment Act, 1978. It removed the Right to Property from Part III by deleting Article 19(1)(f) and Article 31, so property ceased to be a Fundamental Right. The same amendment inserted Article 300A in Part XII, where the Right to Property survives as a constitutional/legal right — 'No person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law.' It was enacted under the Janata Party (Morarji Desai) government.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) The 37th Amendment (1975) dealt with the Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh (its Legislative Assembly and Council of Ministers), not the Right to Property.  (b) The 38th Amendment (1975) barred judicial review of the proclamation of Emergency and of Ordinances; it did not touch the Right to Property.  (d) The 42nd Amendment (1976) — the 'mini-Constitution' — added Fundamental Duties and the words Socialist/Secular/Integrity to the Preamble; the deletion of the Right to Property came two years later with the 44th.

Concept: The Right to Property was originally a Fundamental Right under Article 19(1)(f) (to acquire, hold and dispose of property) and Article 31 (protection against deprivation). Because it repeatedly clashed with land-reform and redistribution laws, the 44th Amendment Act, 1978 took it out of Part III and re-located it as Article 300A — now a legal/constitutional right, not a Fundamental Right.

State PCS 2019 Q1 — Indian Polity PYQ with Answer

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