Which of the following freedoms is not guaranteed by the Indian Constitution under Article 19 ?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — B, Freedom to own, acquire and dispose of property. Article 19(1) as enacted in 1950 contained seven freedoms, lettered (a) to (g), and clause (f) was 'to acquire, hold and dispose of property'. That clause was omitted by the Constitution (Forty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1978 — passed by the Janata government, with Law Minister Shanti Bhushan piloting it, and given Presidential assent on 30 April 1979 — which at the same time repealed Article 31 on compulsory acquisition of property and moved the protection out of Part III altogether. In its place the amendment inserted Article 300A in Part XII: 'No person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law.' The consequence is precise and is what the question is testing. Property is still a right — a constitutional or legal right — but it is no longer a Fundamental Right, so it cannot be enforced by a petition brought directly to the Supreme Court under Article 32, although a High Court writ under Article 226 remains available because Article 226 is not confined to Fundamental Rights. The visible trace of the deletion is the lettering of Article 19(1) itself, which today runs (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) and then jumps straight to (g): six freedoms behind seven letters. The other three options reproduce surviving sub-clauses almost word for word — (a) is 19(1)(b), (c) is 19(1)(d) and (d) is 19(1)(g) — so option (b) is the only one naming something Article 19 no longer guarantees.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) This is guaranteed, so it cannot be the answer. Article 19(1)(b) gives citizens the right 'to assemble peaceably and without arms' — the option is the constitutional text with 'peaceably' modernised to 'peacefully'. Both qualifiers are part of the right itself: an assembly that turns violent or that is armed falls outside the guarantee rather than merely being restricted. Beyond that, Article 19(3) permits the State to impose reasonable restrictions in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India or public order, which is the constitutional footing for prohibitory orders of the kind formerly issued under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and now under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.  (c) Guaranteed by Article 19(1)(d), 'to move freely throughout the territory of India', which travels with its companion clause 19(1)(e), 'to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India'. The two are restricted by the same clause, Article 19(5), which allows reasonable restrictions in the interests of the general public or for the protection of the interests of any Scheduled Tribe — the second limb being the constitutional basis on which the Inner Line Permit regime in parts of the North-East continues to operate. Note the deliberate pairing to watch for in exams: free movement and free residence are separate sub-clauses, and a question may test whether you can name the right one.  (d) Guaranteed by Article 19(1)(g), 'to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business'. Article 19(6) then allows reasonable restrictions in the interests of the general public and expressly saves two things: laws prescribing professional or technical qualifications for practising an occupation, and laws under which the State itself, or a corporation owned or controlled by the State, carries on any trade or business to the complete or partial exclusion of citizens. That second saving is what permits State monopolies, and it is a frequent source of statement-based questions in its own right.

Concept: Article 19(1) guarantees to citizens — not to all persons, which is a distinct and heavily examined point — a bundle of freedoms, each paired with a clause allowing the State to impose reasonable restrictions: 19(1)(a) speech and expression, restricted under 19(2); 19(1)(b) peaceable assembly without arms, restricted under 19(3); 19(1)(c) associations or unions or co-operative societies, restricted under 19(4); 19(1)(d) movement and 19(1)(e) residence and settlement throughout India, both restricted under 19(5); and 19(1)(g) profession, occupation, trade or business, restricted under 19(6). The list has been altered twice in ways prelims cares about. Clause (f), the property freedom, was deleted by the 44th Amendment in 1978, leaving the gap in the lettering that is visible in every bare Act today. And the words 'or co-operative societies' were added to clause (c) by the Constitution (Ninety-seventh Amendment) Act, 2011.

State PCS 2024 Q99 — Polity & Governance PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2024 Q99 — Polity & Governance PYQ with Answer