42nd Amendment of the Indian Constitution (Mini Constitution)

For every law professional, law student and all those persons who are appearing for the government exams, it is necessary to know all amendments happened in the constitution, especially the one which has brought some drastic changes in India and Indian Judicial System. One such amendment is the 42nd amendment of the Indian Constitution, this amendment is also known as the “Mini Constitution”, in this Blog we will find out why and why this amendment holds such importance. But in the history of Constitutional amendments, this one is the most debatable as well as a controversial amendment, also the father of the Indian Constitution Mr B.R. Ambedkar opposed the amendment in the constituent assembly. Any institution which is offering online law certification courses in India on constitutional law teaches their learner about this mini-constitution.

History of the Amendment:

The history behind this amendment is quite interesting, as it is related to one of the most tragic times in India and also includes abuse of power and authority. After winning the election in 1971 and becoming prime minister of India, Smt. Indira Gandhi was accused by her opponent Mr Raj Narayan, of election fraud, and using her power to manipulate the voters, by either threatening them or giving them money. For the first time in Indian history a prime minister of India was summoned to the court, and the case was filed in Allahabad High Court. The Allahabad HC, in 1975 delivered the judgement in which Indira Gandhi was found guilty, her government was announced null and void, and she was banned from participating in the elections for the next 6 years. After the judgement was passed, the case was appealed to the supreme court, but the result was the same. Although she was permitted to be working as Prime minister till the next election happens. But this decision caused chaos in the whole country, also the opposition protested against this and started showing their aggression due to which Indira Gandhi with the permission of the President imposed an emergency in India.

During the emergency, many fundamental rights were violated and many amendments were made to the constitution i.e, 38th amendment, 39th amendment, 40th amendment, 41st amendment and 42nd amendment. In all these amendments, the 42nd Amendments bring changes to most parts of the constitution and it has also introduced duties in the constitution for all citizens. To learn more about the amendments law learners opt for online legal certification courses.

Mini Constitution:

The reason behind calling this amendment the Mini constitution of India is that, this amendment aims to change the whole basic structure of the Indian constitution. This amendment also tried to overturn the supreme court decision on Keshvanda Barti vs State of Kerela. The extension of the Lok sabha period from 5 to 6 years happened due to this amendment. The judicial review power was also limited by this amendment. This amendment affects the article; 31, 31C, 39, 55, 74, 77, 81, 82, 83, 100, 102, 103, and many other articles, also inserted many articles in the constitutions, and amend the schedule 7.

Provision added by the 42nd Amendment:

There were many provisions which were added to the constitution through this amendment which affected many aspects of the Indian judiciary and administrative system, below are mentioned some of them:

Preamble:

This amendment affects the introductory statement of the Indian Constitution, Few new words were added to the preamble. This can be divided into two-part. Firstly, the representation that was originally India as a” Sovereign Democratic Republic” through this amendment became India's” Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic”. Then Secondly, “Unity of the nation” was replaced by “Unity and Integrity of the Nation”.

The changes in the preamble were heavily criticized, The head of the Drafting committee Dr B.R Ambedkar, opposed the addition of the word Secular and Socialist as these words represents different meaning across the world.

Fundamental Duties:

42nd amendment introduced Article 51 A in Part IV(A) of the Indian Constitution on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Mehta Committee. Before the amendment, the “Fundamental Rights and Directive Principle of State Policy” already existed in the constitution, but the government believed that there should be certain duties imposed on citizens of India. But these duties are not law enforceable. At the time of the amendment there was a total of Ten Fundamental duties introduced, but through the 72nd amendment Eleventh Fundamental duty was introduced, so at present, there is a total of 11 Fundamental duties. The introduction of Fundamental duties in the constitution was not criticized as their main objective of them is in favour of the public interest.

7th Schedule:

This amendment transferred 5 subjects from the State list to the concurrent list, the following are the subjects; Education, Forests, Weights & Measures, Protection of Wild Animals and Birds, and Administration of Justice.

Parliament:

Through this amendment there were certain changes in the parliament of India, some of them are mentioned below. i,e.

• The president was bound to follow the advice of the cabinet.

• Speaker of Lok Sabha and Prime mister were given discretionary powers.

• Allowed the Centre to position forces in the state to restore law and order during any conflicts.

• The Directive Principles should outweigh fundamental rights and any legislation enacted by Parliament to this effect was kept beyond the court’s judicial review.

Judicial Power of High Court:

This amendment curtailed the judicial review power of the High Court was curtailed.

Addition of Articles:

Article 323 A and 323 B, and Part XIV, i.e, “Tribunals for Administrative Matters” and “Tribunals for Other Matters”, were added to the Constitution.

Directive Principles of State Policy:

Three new DPSPs were introduced to the existing list of DPSPs in Part IV and one DPSP was changed. They are as follows;

• Article 39; To provide an opportunity for Children’s growth.

• Article 39A; To promote fair justice and to provide poor people proper free legal assistance.

• Article 43 A; Take measures to ensure that workers are involved in the management of industries.

• Article 48A; To safeguard forests and wildlife, and to protect and improve the environment.

Conclusion:

Law is an extensive branch of study, Indian Constitution which is the base of the Law in India is an important document that every law aspirant must know completely. Every amendment in Indian Constitution is equally important to learn and understand the need behind it and also know the consequences of it. Compared to them, the 42nd Amendment is a little more important due to its interference in most parts of the constitution and its consequences as well as the criticism. Many legal learning institutions providing online law certification courses teach this topic at least once, as it has vital importance in Indian Constitutional history.