Article 31A
Also called: Saving of laws providing for acquisition of estates · Topic: Fundamental Rights and Constitutional Remedies · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The 1st Amendment, 1951 added Article 31A. It protects laws for taking over large landed estates, and similar reforms, from being struck down for breaking Articles 14 (equality) or 19 (freedoms). It was added because courts were blocking zamindari abolition, the land reform that ended big landlord estates, at a time when property was still a fundamental right.
Example
Under Article 31A, states could pass laws taking over zamindari estates. Landlords could not get these laws struck down by claiming the laws were unequal or limited their freedoms.
Don't confuse with
- Article 31B: Article 31B, also added in 1951, protects laws placed in the Ninth Schedule. After I.R. Coelho (2007), Ninth Schedule laws added after 24 April 1973 can still be tested against the basic structure.
Related concepts
- State under Article 12
- Horizontal application of fundamental rights
- Laws inconsistent with fundamental rights
- Doctrine of eclipse
- Doctrine of severability
- Doctrine of waiver
- Reading down
- Right to property
- Article 31B
- Eminent domain