UPPSC 2024 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 99 of 150

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with Law Minister Shanti Bhushan piloting it, and given Presidential assent on 30 April 1979 — which at the same time repealed Article 31 on compulsory acquisition of property and moved the protection out of Part III altogether.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.

• (a)Freedom to assemble peacefully and without arms — 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)Freedom to move freely throughout the country — 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)Freedom to practise any trade or profession — 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.

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.

The tell in this item is structural: three options are near-verbatim reproductions of surviving sub-clauses and the fourth reproduces the sub-clause that was removed. The examiner is not asking for a judgement about policy, only whether you know that the property freedom left Part III in 1978. Two ideas must be held together and neither alone is sufficient. First, property is not a Fundamental Right, which is why Article 32 is unavailable for it — that is the half the question tests. Second, property has not been abolished as a right: Article 300A still requires authority of law before any deprivation, and because Article 300A speaks of 'person' rather than 'citizen' it protects non-citizens and companies, which the citizen-only Article 19 never did. UPSC asked exactly the second half in 2021 and the marked answer was 'legal right available to any person', so a candidate who learns only the deletion and not the relocation will get one of the two questions wrong.

• Article 19(1) today guarantees six freedoms lettered (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) and (g). Letter (f) is missing because the property freedom was deleted — six freedoms, seven letters.
• Clause 19(1)(f), 'to acquire, hold and dispose of property', and Article 31 on compulsory acquisition of property were both omitted by the Constitution (Forty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1978, enacted by the Janata government; the Act received Presidential assent on 30 April 1979 and the property provisions took effect that year.
• The same amendment inserted Article 300A in Part XII: 'No person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law.' Property is therefore a constitutional or legal right and not a Fundamental Right, so it cannot be enforced under Article 32, though a High Court writ under Article 226 remains available.
• Article 300A protects 'any person', which covers non-citizens and legal persons such as companies, whereas the Article 19 freedoms are available to citizens alone.
• Articles 31A, 31B and 31C were not repealed and still sit in Part III, which is why the Ninth Schedule that Article 31B protects survived the removal of the property right.
• The words 'or co-operative societies' were added to Article 19(1)(c) by the Constitution (Ninety-seventh Amendment) Act, 2011.

• Concluding that property is not a right at all. It is — under Article 300A. What it is not is a Fundamental Right, and that distinction decides whether Article 32 is available.
• Miscounting the freedoms. Article 19(1) runs to letter (g) but contains only six freedoms; the gap at (f) is the deleted property clause, and questions are set on both the count and the letter.
• Assuming the 44th Amendment swept property out of Part III entirely. Articles 31A, 31B and 31C remain, and with 31B the entire Ninth Schedule mechanism survives.

UPPSC sets this as a direct 'which freedom is NOT guaranteed by Article 19' item or as an Article-to-provision matching question. UPSC has asked the same fact from the other end — 'What is the position of the Right to Property in India?' in 2021 — so learn the deletion and the present status under Article 300A as one package.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The right to property ceased to be a Fundamental Right by virtue of which Constitutional Amendment?

  • (a)The Twenty-fourth Amendment, 1971
  • (b)The Forty-second Amendment, 1976
  • (c)The Forty-fourth Amendment, 1978
  • (d)The Eighty-sixth Amendment, 2002

  Answer(c) The Forty-fourth Amendment, 1978 — it omitted Article 19(1)(f) and Article 31 and inserted Article 300A. The 24th Amendment concerned Parliament's power to amend Fundamental Rights, the 42nd was the Emergency-era amendment, and the 86th inserted Article 21-A on education.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following statements about Article 300A of the Constitution of India is correct?

  • (a)It is a Fundamental Right directly enforceable in the Supreme Court under Article 32
  • (b)It guarantees the right to property to Indian citizens only
  • (c)It provides that no person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law
  • (d)It was inserted by the Forty-second Amendment Act, 1976

  Answer(c) It provides that no person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law — Article 300A sits in Part XII, applies to 'any person' rather than only citizens, is a constitutional and not a Fundamental Right, and was inserted by the 44th Amendment.