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Amendment of the Constitution and Basic Structure Questions and Answers

41.

Which one of the following cases decided by the Supreme Court led to First Amendment in the Indian Constitution ?

Exam Year(s)

Tripura Public Service Commission - 2019,

Answer: D

The case is State of Madras vs Champak Dorairajan (usually cited as Champakam Dorairajan).

In 1951 the Supreme Court struck down the Madras government's Communal G.O., which allotted college seats by caste and community, as contrary to Article 29(2). Parliament responded with the First Amendment, 1951, which inserted Article 15(4) permitting special provision for socially and educationally backward classes.

Shankari Prasad (1951) came after the amendment and upheld its validity. The Supreme Court's decision in Bihar vs Kameshwar Singh was given in 1952, also after it. Chintamani Rao (1950) concerned restrictions on trade and is not the case tied to the First Amendment.

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42.

Which one of the following Amendments of the Constitution has given Delhi the status of National Capital Territory ?

Exam Year(s)

Tripura Public Service Commission - 2019,

Answer: B

Delhi became the National Capital Territory under the 69th Amendment.

The Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991, inserted Articles 239AA and 239AB, renaming the Union Territory of Delhi the National Capital Territory and giving it a Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers.

The 61st Amendment (1989) lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, the 71st (1992) added Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali to the Eighth Schedule, and the 79th (1999) extended reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in legislatures.

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43.

The power of the Parliament to a mend the Constitution of India is a constituent power laid down in Article 368 by

Exam Year(s)

UGC NET - 2012,

Answer: A

The power of Parliament to amend the Constitution was spelt out as a constituent power in Article 368 by the Twenty-fourth Amendment (1971), so (A) is correct. It was enacted after Golak Nath (1967) had held that Parliament could not amend the Fundamental Rights, and it said that Article 368 contains both the power and the procedure and that the President must give assent to an amendment bill. The 26th Amendment in option (B) abolished the privy purses. The 42nd in option (C) was the wide amendment of 1976. The 44th in option (D) reversed some of its changes after the Emergency.

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44.

In which of the following amendment the words 'Nothing in Article 13 shall apply to any amendment made under Article 368' were inserted ?

Exam Year(s)

UGC NET - 2013,

Answer: B

The words 'Nothing in Article 13 shall apply to any amendment made under Article 368' were inserted by the 24th Amendment, 1971, which is option B. It was passed to restore Parliament's power to amend Part III after the Golaknath decision.

The 22nd Amendment dealt with Meghalaya as an associate state, the 42nd Amendment of 1976 made many changes including the Preamble, and the 44th Amendment of 1978 undid several of those. None of them inserted this clause.

The amendment was passed in 1971 and was in turn considered in Kesavananda Bharati.

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45.

Match List-I with List-II and select the correct answer using the codes given below :

List - IList - II
I. Deletion of fundamental right to freedom to acquire, hold and dispose of property.(a) Constitution (Forty-Second Amendment) Act.
II. Insertion of the word 'integrity' to the Preamble of the Constitution.(b) Constitution (Forty-Fourth Amendment) Act.
III. Inclusion of right to education as fundamental right under Article 21A(c) Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act.
IV. Insertion of Clause(5) in Article 15.(d) Constitution (Ninety-Third Amendment) Act.

Codes : I II III IV

Exam Year(s)

UGC NET - 2013,

Answer: A

The correct match is I-(b), II-(a), III-(c), IV-(d).

  • The right to acquire, hold and dispose of property was removed from the fundamental rights by the Forty-Fourth Amendment (b).
  • The word 'integrity' was inserted into the Preamble by the Forty-Second Amendment (a).
  • Article 21A, the right to education, was inserted by the Eighty-sixth Amendment (c).
  • Clause (5) of Article 15, on admission to educational institutions, was inserted by the Ninety-Third Amendment (d).

The other codes swap the first two or the last two, and so attach an Amendment to a change it did not make.

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46.

In which of the following cases free and fair election is recognized as basic structure of Indian Constitution ?

Exam Year(s)

UGC NET - 2013,

Answer: A

Both Indira Gandhi v. Raj Narayan and Minerva Mills v. Union of India are cases in which free and fair elections were treated as part of the basic structure. In Indira Gandhi v. Raj Narayan (1975) the Court struck down the clause of the 39th Amendment that exempted the Prime Minister's election from judicial scrutiny, holding free and fair elections to be basic. Minerva Mills (1980) further restated the basic structure doctrine, so the key accepts option A, the first case, as the one that recognised it.

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47.

Assertion (A) : Under Article 368, the Parliament can amend any provision of the Constitution except the basic structure of the Constitution.

Reason (R) : The Supreme Court has restricted the absolute power of Parliament to amend any provision of the Constitution.
Codes :

Exam Year(s)

UGC NET - 2013,

Answer: A

Both statements are true and the Reason correctly explains the Assertion. Article 368 gives Parliament power to amend the Constitution, but in Kesavananda Bharati (1973) the Supreme Court held that this power does not extend to altering the basic structure. It is because the Court has restricted Parliament's otherwise wide power of amendment that the Assertion holds, so the Reason explains it. Hence option A is correct.

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