Amendment of Indian Constitution

• The Constitution of India provides for a distinctive amending process as compared to the leading Constitutions of the world.

• It may be described as partly flexible and partly rigid.

• The amendment procedure was borrowed from the South African constitution

Methods of Amendments

Amendment of Indian constitution can be done in Two ways-

1.Amendment by Simple Majority(Outside Article 368)

2.Amendment under Article 368

It includes Two types of Amendments-

• Amendment by a special majority of the Parliament.

• Amendment by a special majority of the Parliament, and the ratification of half of the state legislatures.

1.Amendment by Simple Majority

Simple Majority -

• It refers to the majority of more than 50% of the members present and voting

In following cases Simple Majority is used to amend constitution-

• 2nd Schedule – Emoluments Allowances Privileges.

• Fifth Schedule – administration of scheduled areas and scheduled tribes.

• Sixth Schedule – administration of tribal areas.

• Passing of Ordinary/ Money/Financial bills.
• To pass Different motions like Non-Confidence Motion /Adjournment Motion/Censure Motion/Confidence Motion.

• Financial emergency.

• To declare a state emergency or President’s rule .

• Formation of new states and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing states.

• Abolition or creation of legislative councils in states.

• Use of official language.

• Citizenship – acquisition, and termination.

• Election of Speaker/Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha and State legislatures.

• Elections to parliament & state legislatures.

• Delimitation of constituencies.

2.Amendment under Article 368

Special Majority-

• A bill is said to be passed, if it is supported by a majority of 2/3rd members present and voting supported by over 50% of the total strength of the House.

Procedure for Amendment under Article 368-

• An amendment of the Constitution may be initiated only by the introduction of a Bill for the purpose in either House of Parliament.

• The bill must be passed in each house by a special majority separately, that is, a majority of the total membership of the house and a majority of two-thirds of the members of the house present and voting.

• This bill can be introduced either by a minister or by a private member.

• Amendment bill does not require the prior permission of the President.

• There is no provision of joint sitting in constitutional amendments.

• After passage of the bill by both the houses, it is presented to the President for his assent.

• The president must give his assent to the bill. He can neither withhold his assent to the bill nor return the bill for reconsideration of the Parliament.

24th Amendment Act,1971

• The Act provides that when a Constitution Amendment Bill passed by both Houses of Parliament is presented to the President for his assent, he should give his assent.

A.Amendment by a special majority of the Parliament under Article 368

Following matters can be amended under this -

• Fundamental Rights.

• Directive principles of State policy-DPSP.

• All other provisions which are not covered by the above categories.

B.Amendment by a special majority of the Parliament, and the ratification of half of the state legislatures(by a simple majority).

• There are some of the provisions which helps in strengthening the Federal nature of our constitution and directly or indirectly states are also affected by these provisions.

• Therefore to amend these provisions ratification of half of the state legislatures is required.

This provision is used in following matters-

• Extent of the executive power of the Union and the states.

• Election of the President.

• Supreme Court and high courts.

• Distribution of legislative powers between the states and the union.

• Any of the lists in seventh schedule.

• Representation of states in Parliament.

• Power of Parliament to amend the constitution and its procedure I.e. Article 368 itself.

Criticism of Amendment procedure of Indian Constitution-

• Majority of amendment can be done by Centre with simple majority.

• There is no time mentioned in which states have to give their consent regarding amendment.

• There is no provision for a Joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament.

• Constitution is silent on the issue of whether the states can withdraw their approval after according the same.

• There is no provision for a special body like Constitutional Convention as in the USA or Constitutional Assembly for amending the Constitution.

• Consent of States is required only in few matters.

Some of The Important Constitutional Amendments-

The First Constitution Amendment Act, 1951-

• It made several changes to the Fundamental Rights provisions of the Indian constitution.

• It provided means to restrict freedom of speech and expression, validation of zamindari abolition laws.

• It clarified that the right to equality does not bar the enactment of laws which provide "special consideration" for weaker sections of society.

Second Amendment Act, 1952 -

• In the Second Amendment act, the representation scale of the Lok Sabha was altered.

Seventh Amendment Act,1956-

• In the seventh amendment act, the union territories were introduced.

• Introduction of common high court for two or more than two states.

• Abolition of A,B, C and D states.

• New Staes I.e. 14 States and six union territories were formed.

Ninth Amendment Act,1960-

• Few territories were ceded to Pakistan (Presently Bangladesh) because of Re Berubari Union case.

Tenth Amendment Act,1961 -

• Incorporation of Dadar, Nagar and Haveli in the union of India and was made as a union territory.

Eleventh Amendment (1961)-

• This amendment authorized the government to take over the management of “inam” lands, which were lands granted to individuals or institutions by the government.

12th Amendment Act, 1962

• Goa, Daman and Diu were incorporated as union territories

13th Amendment Act,1962

• Nagaland has been granted special status(article 371A).

14th Amendment Act,1962

• Pondicherry was included in the Indian Union Territory.

24th Amendment Act,1971

• The Act provides that when a Constitution Amendment Bill passed by both Houses of Parliament is presented to the President for his assent, he should give his assent.

42^nd Amendment (1976)-

• This amendment made a number of changes to the Indian Constitution, including the addition of the words “secular” and “socialist” to the Preamble and the insertion of the Fundamental Duties of citizens.

• It is also Known as the mini-constitution because this amendment is the most extensive in the Indian constitution.

• It inserted Fundamental duties

• For emergency it inserted ‘armed rebellion’ in the place of internal disturbance

44^th Amendment Act, 1978-

• Right to Property was removed from the list of fundamental rights (Article 31) and was made a legal right under Article 300A.

• It provided that an emergency can be proclaimed only on the basis of written advice tendered to the President by the Cabinet.

61st amendment act , 1889 -

• the voting age of the citizens was reduced from 21 to 18 in both the Lok Sabha and the legislative assembly elections.

86th Amendment Act,2002 -

• It made elementary education free and compulsory for children between 6 and 14 years of age

92nd Amendment Act,2003 -

• The number of official languages was increased from 18 to 22.

• Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali were officially added in the Eighth schedule.

97^thconstitutional amendment act, 2011 -

• It provided for constitutional status of cooperative societies

100th constitutional Amendment Act, 2015-

• It provided for Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) between India and Bangladesh

The 102th Constitution Amendment Act,2018-

• Constitutional status to National Commission for Backward Classes

The 103^rd Constitution Amendment Act,2019-

• 10% Reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWSs)

The 104^th Constitution Amendment Act,2020-

• It extended the reservation of seats for SCs and STs in the Lok Sabha and states assemblies.

105th Amendment Act of 2021-

• It restores the power of the State Governments and Union Territories to identify and specify Socially and Economically Backward Classes (SEBCs)