The Kesavananda case (1973)

Keshavananda Bharati v. The State of Kerala(1973) is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of India.

It is the basis for the power of the Indian judiciary to review, and strike down, amendments to the Constitution of India passed by the Indian parliament which conflict with or seek to alter the constitution’s ‘basic structure’. The Supreme Court recognized basic structure concept for the first time in the historic Kesavananda Bharati case in 1973.  The basic structure doctrine applies only to the constitutionality of amendments and not to ordinary Acts of Parliament, which must conform to the entirety of the Constitution and not just to its basic structure. The decision of the Supreme Court in the Golak Nath Case has created a constitutional deadlock. The deadlock ended with the famous case of Keshavananda Bharati and Others vs. State of Kerala in 1973. Ever since the Supreme Court has been the interpreter of the Constitution and the arbiter of all amendments made by parliament. The court by majority overruled the Golak Nath case which denied parliament the power to amend fundamental rights of the citizens. In this case the petitioners challenged the validity of the 24th, 25th, 26th and 29th constitutional amendments.

The judgment also defined the extent to which Parliament could restrict the right to property, in pursuit of land reform and the redistribution of large landholdings to cultivators, overruling previous decisions that suggested that the right to property could not be restricted. The case was a culmination of a series of cases relating to limitations to the power to amend the Indian constitution.

The 42nd amendment is thought to be the immediate and most direct fall out of the judgement.

The basic structure doctrine is the judge-made principle that certain features of the Constitution of India are beyond the limit of the powers of amendment of the Indian Parliament.