ARTICLE 31C OF THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION AND THE BASIC STRUCTURE DOCTRINE- A LEGAL COEVALITY

The basic structure doctrine is probably the most important safety valve in Indian Constitutional law, as far as the protection of rights and liberties of the masses of this land is concerned. The tussle between the judiciary on one hand and the legislature and executive on the other was mostly connected with the Part-III of the Indian Constitution, which mostly contain political and legal rights, specifically in the contrast of the Part- IV of the Indian Constitution which speaks for the social and economic ends which the republic of India shall strive to achieve. However, as Part-IV of the Indian Constitution is not enforceable, the legislature, time and again, tries to dilute the sacrosanct nature of Part-III of the Indian Constitution through amendments. Article 31C is the result of one of such attempts, and in order to dilute the rigour of the basic structure doctrine as propounded in the Keshavanand Bharati case, Article 31C was again amended by the 42nd amendment, whereas it was added only a few years back by the 25th amendment. The Minerva Mills Ltd verdict tested the validity of the amended article 31C, but the unamended article 31C was never tested in the context of the basic structure doctrine, as it came into challenge only in the Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala judgement itself.