• KESAVANANDA BHARATI was a seer from Kerala who had challenged a land reforms legislation in 1970.
  • Because the land owned by his Mutt was taken over by State Government. Bharati said this action violated his fundamental rights — his fundamental right to religion (Article 25), freedom of religious denomination (Article 26), and right to property (Article 31).
  • 🤔The Supreme Court held land ownership/ right to property is not fundamental right.
  • So Government can take away your land because it is not part of the Constitution’s ‘basic structure’. For example, judicial review, rule of law, federalism, and democratic republic structure are identified as basic features. 🤔If law violates the basic structure then court can cancel it.
  • 2023: Vice President Dhankhar criticised the SC for using the basic structure doctrine to strike down constitutional amendments by Parliament, such as the NJAC Act. He criticized judiciary for “one-upmanship, public posturing from judicial platforms”, this is leading to the “emasculation of the power of the legislature”
KESAVANANDA BHARATI basic structure