Comment: The 42nd amendment to the Constitution of India. (1992, 20 Marks)
The Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976, passed during the Emergency, is the most extensive single revision the Constitution has undergone, hence its label “mini-Constitution”. It altered the Preamble, some forty articles and the Seventh Schedule, and inserted about fourteen new articles and two new Parts. It bundled two projects: a socio-economic programme and a design to entrench the executive against the courts. History accepted the first and rejected the second.
Genesis
- It capped a decade of Parliament–Court conflict over property and the amending power, from Golaknath (1967) and Kesavananda Bharati (1973) to Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain (1975).
- A Congress committee under Swaran Singh proposed changes in 1976; the Bill moved by Law Minister H. R. Gokhale went beyond them. The Lok Sabha passed it on 2 November 1976 by 366 votes to 4, with much of the opposition in detention; assent followed on 18 December.
- Its Statement of Objects and Reasons promised to spell out expressly the high ideals of socialism, secularism and the integrity of the nation and to give the Directive Principles precedence over rights used to frustrate socio-economic reforms.
Principal Changes
| Domain | Change |
|---|---|
| Preamble | “Socialist”, “secular”; “unity and integrity of the Nation” |
| Rights and duties | Article 51A: ten Fundamental Duties; Article 31C extended to any Directive Principle; Article 31D on “anti-national activities” |
| Directive Principles | 39(f) recast; 39A legal aid, 43A workers’ participation, 48A environment |
| Judiciary | Articles 32A, 226A, 131A: state laws barred under Art. 32, central laws kept from High Courts; 144A: seven judges and a two-thirds majority to invalidate; Part XIVA tribunals; 368(4)–(5): amendments unreviewable |
| Executive and Parliament | Article 74(1): President shall act on ministerial advice; Lok Sabha and assembly terms six years (Arts. 83, 172); President’s rule approvals yearly |
| Federal balance | Education, forests, wild animals and birds, weights and measures, administration of justice to the Concurrent List; Article 257A central forces; seats frozen on the 1971 census until 2001 |
Reversal
- The Janata government’s 43rd Amendment (1977) repealed Articles 31D, 32A, 131A, 144A, 226A and 228A.
- The 44th Amendment (1978) restored five-year terms, let the President return advice once for reconsideration and deleted Article 257A.
- Minerva Mills v. Union of India (1980) struck down the extended Article 31C and Article 368(4)–(5): a limited amending power and the balance between Parts III and IV are themselves basic features. L. Chandra Kumar (1997) restored High Court review over tribunals.
What Survived
- The Preamble words, upheld in Dr. Balram Singh v. Union of India (November 2024).
- Part IVA, Article 39A (basis of the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987) and Article 48A (anchor of environmental jurisprudence).
- Its centralising core: the Concurrent List transfers, binding advice under Article 74(1), the tribunals.
- The seat freeze, extended past 2026 by the 84th Amendment (2001) and still contested: the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill fell on 17 April 2026.
- The pre-1976 Article 31C, held to survive in Property Owners Association (2024).
Assessment
Granville Austin read the Constitution as a seamless web of unity, democracy and social revolution; the 42nd Amendment invoked the social-revolution strand to sever the democratic one. Bipan Chandra saw its main changes as strengthening the executive at the judiciary’s cost, upsetting checks and balances. Defenders point to the genuine gains in Part IV, but Article 368(4)–(5) decides the matter: redistribution needs no immunity from all review; self-perpetuation does.
Conclusion
The 42nd Amendment failed as an instrument of power and succeeded as a statement of purpose. Its welfare vocabulary is now common ground; its assault on judicial review produced the opposite of its aim, the Minerva Mills rule that Parliament cannot make its amending power unlimited.