Kesavananda Bharati Case : ‘Basic Structure Doctrine’

Facts Of The Case :

Relevant Questions & Contentions Before The Court :

The most important question before the court was to decide that how much amending power the Parliament enjoys under article 368 and whether such power was unfettered or subject to restrictions and judicial scrutiny.?
The petitioners argued that the amendments made by the Parliament go against some basic cardinal principles of the Constitution and hence are unconstitutional. On the contrary, the government argued that the amending power of the Parliament under article 368 was unlimited to such extent that the Parliament may even repeal the Constitution itself. Hence, it became necessary for the Hon’ble Supreme Court to decide the issue of amending power of the Parliament in order to ascertain the validity of constitutional amendments.

Observations Of The Court :

In this case, Hon’ble Supreme Court was able to establish firmly that it is the supreme authority while considering constitutional matters. The hon’ble court upheld the fact that Parliament may amend any part of the Constitution, including the fundamental rights but at the same time it significantly broadened the scope of its judicial review by assuming the power to scrutinize all constitutional amendments and not just those affecting fundamental rights. Thus, it was established that if the Parliament enjoys unfettered amending power, the judiciary enjoys coextensive power to review and invalidate any constitutional amendment in case of inconsistency.
The court made it clear that even if the representatives of the citizens ( The Parliament) enjoy unfettered power to amend the Constitution, they cannot redraft the whole Constitution by going against the will of the people. Under the disguise of constitutional amendment, the Parliament cannot alter the Constitution is such a way that it destroys the basic values (such as representative democracy, independence of judiciary etc.) of the Constitution. Thus, by limiting the Parliament’s amending power, the hon’ble court pre-empted any such scenario and ascertained the fact that representatives of the people, who are meant to be the servants of the Constitution, never become its masters.
The Hon’ble Supreme Court also declared certain parts of the Constitution to be basic, indestructible and immune, even from constitutional amendments. Moreover, the power to decide whether a part or feature qualifies as ‘basic’ or not, rests with the Supreme Court. This gave the custody of the Constitution to the Supreme Court and established its supremacy in the area of interpretation of Constitution.

Judgement :

Swami Kesavananda Bharati did not get any personal relief from the court but this case became one of the most significant case in the history of international constitutional law. The court by slender majority of 7:6 declared that the Parliament has the power to amend any and every part of the Constitution but only to the extent that such amendment does not violates the basic structure of the Constitution.
The case was heard by the largest ever Constitution Bench of 13 Judges. The bench gave eleven separate judgments, which agreed on some points and differed on others, implying that there is no clear indication of what the Supreme Court actually held. For the first time in the court’s history, the judges gave a summary of their decision, which four judges (A.N. Ray, K.K. Mathew, M.H. Beg, S.N. Dwivedi) refused to sign because they said it was inaccurate.
The court adopted a teleological approach and held that the word ‘amendment’ does not includes such alteration that completely deforms the Constitution and it loses its identity. All constitutional amendments enacted after the date on which the Kesavananda judgement was delivered would have to pass the ‘basic-structure filter’ created by the Supreme Court. The views of the majority on each issue were as follows:
1. The Twenty-fourth Amendment to the Constitution was valid.
2. The Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution was valid, except for the clause ousting the courts’ jurisdiction.
3. The Twenty-ninth Amendment to the Constitution was valid.
4. The Golak Nath judgement, which had asserted that fundamental rights could not be taken away or nullified by the Parliament, was overruled.
5. There were no implied limitations on the Parliament’s power to amend the Constitution under Article 368.

Conclusion :

The Supreme Court’s judgement in the Kesavananda Bharati case was a very bold & strong move. After 68 days of rigorous hearing, before a 13-judge bench, where hundreds of cases were cited and Constitutions of more than 71 countries were referred, the Hon’ble Supreme Court propounded the ‘doctrine of basic structure’ & finally declared that though the amending power of the Parliament under article 368 was unrestricted, it does not have the power to amend the basic structure of the Constitution, which leads to defacing its identity. Generally, basic structure comprises the features such as independence of judiciary, seperation of power, federalism, secularism etc. but finally the power to declare what qualifies as the ‘basic structure’ rests with the Supreme Court.