Ninth Schedule

Topic: Amendment of the Constitution and the Basic Structure · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The Ninth Schedule is a list of Acts at the end of the Constitution. Under Article 31B, an Act placed in this list cannot be struck down in court for breaking the fundamental rights in Part III. It was added by the 1st Amendment, 1951.

It matters because it was Parliament's main tool to protect land reform laws from court challenges. Over time it also became a debated way to keep many other laws away from judicial review (the courts' power to strike down laws that break the Constitution).

Explanation

How it works: Article 31B

• The shield: under Art. 31B, no Act in the Ninth Schedule "shall be deemed to be void, or ever to have become void" for clashing with Part III. This holds "notwithstanding any judgment, decree or order of any court or Tribunal to the contrary" [1].
• It works backwards in time (retrospective):
• The words "ever to have become void" cover the past as well as the future.

• A law that a court has already struck down becomes valid again once it is listed [1].

• It is wider than Art. 31A:

• Art. 31B works "without prejudice to" Art. 31A [1].
• Art. 31A protects only laws on taking over "estates" (landholdings) or on the State managing property [2].
• Art. 31B can protect any Act, on any subject, once it is listed.

How a law gets into the Schedule

• A law is not added by an ordinary Act of Parliament. The Schedule is part of the Constitution, so Parliament must pass a constitutional amendment under Art. 368.

• Steps: 1. The amendment bill can start in either House of Parliament [3]. 2. Each House must pass it by a special majority: a majority of the House's total membership, and also two-thirds of the members present and voting [3]. 3. The bill goes to the President for assent. Since the 24th Amendment (1971), the President must give this assent [5].

• Examples: the 17th Amendment (1964) added more state land laws. The 76th Amendment (1994) added Tamil Nadu's 69% reservation law.

Why it was created

• In 1950–51, courts struck down land reform laws. One example: the Patna High Court struck down Bihar's zamindari abolition law in Kameshwar Singh (1951).
• Arts. 31A, 31B and the Ninth Schedule were added for two reasons [2][4]:
• to end slow and costly court cases;
• to put agrarian reform laws (laws on who owns land and on tenancy) beyond court challenge.

Growth and limits

• Size:
• It began in 1951 with 13 Acts, all of them land reform laws.
• Item 1 was the Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950 [4].

• It now has about 284 entries (verify current).

• Range: it is no longer only about land. It also includes reservation laws, such as Tamil Nadu's 69% quota law.

• Limit:
• Every entry is added by a constitutional amendment.
• So every entry is open to the basic structure test set in Kesavananda Bharati (1973). Under this test, Parliament can amend the Constitution but cannot destroy its core features.

In the Constitution and practice

• Where it sits: the Ninth Schedule, read with Art. 31B. Both were inserted by the 1st Constitutional Amendment Act, 1951, which the Provisional Parliament passed. This was the Constituent Assembly sitting as Parliament until the first Lok Sabha was elected in 1952.
• Other changes in the same Amendment: Art. 15(4), Art. 31A, and a new Art. 19(2) that allows "reasonable" limits on free speech.
• Shankari Prasad (1951):
• Zamindars said the 1st Amendment was a "law" that took away their rights, so it was void under Art. 13(2).
• The Supreme Court disagreed. "Law" in Art. 13(2) means ordinary law, not an amendment made under the constituent power in Art. 368 (the power to make or change the Constitution itself).

• So Art. 31B and the Ninth Schedule were upheld.

• Sajjan Singh (1965):

• The Court upheld the 17th Amendment (1964), which added more land laws to the Schedule.

• Justice Mudholkar asked whether changing the Constitution's "basic features" would be a rewriting of it, not an amendment. This was the seed of the basic structure doctrine.

• Golaknath (1967):

• The case challenged the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953, which the 17th Amendment had placed in the Ninth Schedule.
• Eleven judges under CJI K. Subba Rao ruled 6:5 that an amendment is "law". So no amendment could take away fundamental rights.

• Using prospective overruling (a new rule that applies only to the future), the Court kept the 1st, 4th and 17th Amendments valid, together with the land laws protected under them.

• 24th Amendment (1971): it added Art. 13(4), so Art. 13 does not apply to amendments. This again opened the way to add laws to the Schedule [5].

• Kesavananda Bharati (1973): Parliament can amend any part of the Constitution but cannot destroy its basic structure. This rule covers the amendments that add laws to the Ninth Schedule.

Don't confuse with

• Article 31A: protects only laws on taking over estates or property management [2]. Art. 31B with the Ninth Schedule protects any listed Act, whatever its subject [1].
• Prospective overruling (Golaknath, 1967): a court's method of applying a new rule only to the future. Art. 31B is a constitutional protection that works retrospectively and brings struck-down laws back to life.
• Seventh Schedule: lists the subjects on which the Union and the states can make laws (Union, State and Concurrent Lists). The Ninth Schedule lists particular Acts that are protected from challenge on fundamental-rights grounds.
• Tenth Schedule: deals with anti-defection (disqualifying legislators who switch parties). It has nothing to do with protecting laws from courts.

Prelims Hooks

• 1st Amendment, 1951 (passed by the Provisional Parliament) added the Ninth Schedule, Art. 31B, Art. 31A and Art. 15(4).
• The Ninth Schedule started with 13 Acts, all on land reform. Item 1 was the Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950 [4].
• Art. 31B is retrospective. Listed Acts are treated as never having become void, even if a court struck them down earlier [1].
• 76th Amendment, 1994 placed Tamil Nadu's 69% reservation law in the Ninth Schedule. This is the standard example of a non-land-reform entry.
• Golaknath (1967) involved a Ninth Schedule law: the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953, added by the 17th Amendment.
• Trap: Golaknath did not strike down the 1st, 4th or 17th Amendments or the land laws listed under them. It saved them by prospective overruling.

Mains Points

• From reform tool to a general shield:
• It was meant to protect land reform and zamindari abolition from slow, costly court cases [2][4].
• It grew from 13 to about 284 entries and now includes reservation laws and other laws.

• Critics say Parliament used it to keep laws away from judicial review. This makes it a strong example for answers on Parliament–judiciary conflict.

• Social justice versus fundamental rights:

• For the Schedule: an elected Parliament must be able to carry out land redistribution even when courts protect property rights (Shankari Prasad view).
• Against an unlimited shield: it could empty Part III of meaning (Golaknath view).

• The middle path: Kesavananda Bharati (1973) allows listing through amendment but keeps the basic structure test.

• Reform view: each new entry could be checked against fundamental rights and the basic structure, so that the Schedule protects real reform laws and not ordinary laws placed there only to avoid court review.

Related concepts

• 1st Constitutional Amendment Act 1951
• Shankari Prasad case
• Sajjan Singh case
• Golaknath case
• Doctrine of prospective overruling
• R.C. Cooper case

Read more

• Parliament vs the judiciary I: from Shankari Prasad to Golaknath