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The Doctrine of Basic Structure The Indelible Safeguard of the Indian Constitution and the Jurisprudence of Judicial Supremacy. I. Historical Evolution Tracing the conflict between the Amending Power of Parliament and the Fundamental Rights of Citizens. THE GOLAKNATH REVERSAL (1967) Sacrosanct Rights . . Prospective Overruling The Supreme Court (1l-Judge Bench) ruled — In a 6:5 majority, Justice Subba Rao held that that Fundamental Rights have a Art 568 only provides the "procedure" for "transcendental" position. amendment, not the "power" to destroy rights. It declared that Parliament has no power to ; his created a constitutional crisis, prompting take away or abridge these rights via — immediate legislative pushback. constitutional amendment. THE LEGISLATIVE PUSHBACK i. 24th Amendment Act (1971): Explicitly stated that nothing in Art 13 shall apply to amendments under Art 368. Parliament sought to restore its absolute amending power. © 25th Amendment Act (1971): Introduced Art 31C, giving precedence to certain Directive Principles (Art 39b/c) over Fundamental Rights (Art 14, 19, 31). <, 29th Amendment Act (1972): Included Kerala Land Reform Acts in the 9th Schedule to immunize them from judicial review. A HISTORIC MANDATE Numerical Significance The largest bench in the history of the Supreme Court of India deliberated for 68 days to reach a razor-thin 7:6 verdict. 1 > The decision upheld the 24th Amendment but struck down the JUDGES ON THE BENCH second part of Art 31C, asserting Judicial Review over amendments that violate the Basic Structure. II. Defining the Indelible The non-exhaustive list of features that form the skeletal framework of the Indian Republic. DOCTRINE REINFORCEMENT ——a aia S mm é{6 Minerva Mills (1980) S.R. Bommai (1994) I.R. Coelho (2007) Struck down sections 4 & 55 of Expanded Basic Structure to Held that laws placed in the the 42nd Amendment. include Federalism and 9th Schedule after 1973 are Declared that a limited Secularism, preventing subject to judicial review amending power is itself a misuse of Article 356 against the Basic Structure basic feature. (President's Rule). test. The Immutable Preamble The Preamble encapsulates the "spirit" of the Basic Structure. Justice Sikri observed that the Preamble's vision of Justice, Liberty, and Equality serves as the guiding light for determining what constitutes the unalterable core of the Constitution. IMAGE SOURCES https://justai.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Al-artificial-intelligence-sc-1024x576,jpg Source: justai.in https: //media.istockphoto.com/id/2196368588/photo/j udge-gavel-and-law-books-in-court-background.jpg?s=612x612&w=0&k=20&c=Af--3ZPC-Rel mrwxl!7 RnIl6yu Rcd UcsH3evQPIHWEzM= Source: www.istockphoto.com 2, rr ; - , ‘ Th umbna HtHesy/blog images.scconline.com/blobblogsccon|28830cl17bf/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/keshav-886x590.jpg ource: www.scconline.com WWW.SCCONIINEG.cCOmM https: //Uupload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Constitution_of_India.jpog?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=index&utm_content= original Source: commonswikimedia.org 
