The case was heard by a bench of 13 judges, headed by the Chief Justice S. M. Sikri of the Supreme Court of India, making it one of the largest benches in Indian legal history.
Origins of the Case
The origins of the Kesavananda Bharati case can be traced back to the land reforms that were introduced in the Indian state of Kerala in the 1950s and 1960s. These reforms were aimed at redistributing land from large landowners to the landless and the poor. In 1963, the Kerala government passed the Kerala Land Reforms Act, which placed a limit on the amount of land that a person could hold. The Act provided for the acquisition of excess land from landowners and its distribution to the landless and the poor.
The Challenge to the Act
Sri Kesavananda Bharati was the head or pontiff of the Edneer Mutt, a Hindu religious institution in Kerala, India. In 1970, the Government of Kerala imposed restrictions on the ownership of land held by religious institutions. The Edneer Mutt, headed by Sri Kesavananda Bharati, challenged the constitutionality of the Act in the Kerala High Court. The case eventually reached the Supreme Court.
The Amendments and the Challenge
The Parliament of India in the meantime passed the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, which sought to curtail the powers of the judiciary and limit the scope of judicial review. The 25th and 29th Amendments were also passed, which sought to limit the fundamental rights of citizens and give Parliament the power to amend any part of the Constitution. Sri Kesavananda Bharati filed a petition challenging the validity of these amendments, arguing that they violated the basic structure of the Constitution. This led to the landmark Kesavananda Bharati judgment, which upheld the basic structure doctrine and placed limits on the power of the Parliament to amend the Constitution.
The Historic Judgment
The case was heard by a bench of 13 judges, headed by the Chief Justice S. M. Sikri of the Supreme Court of India, making it one of the largest benches in Indian legal history. The case took the turns and twists and Kesavananda Bharati was surprised why his simple petition relating to the land of the mutt was taking so long in the Supreme Court. It was heard over 68 sittings, making it the longest hearing held in the Supreme Court. The Ayodhya case hearing was wound up in 40 days.
The Basic Structure Doctrine
The Supreme Court, in a historic 7:6 majority decision, propounded the basic structure doctrine of the Constitution, which holds that certain fundamental features of the Constitution, such as democracy, secularism, federalism, and the rule of law, cannot be amended by parliament. The court also held that the power of judicial review is an integral part of the basic structure of the Constitution, and cannot be taken away by Parliament through constitutional amendments.
Significance of the Case
The significance of the Kesavananda Bharati case lies in the fact that it established the doctrine of basic structure of the Indian Constitution. The basic structure doctrine holds that certain fundamental features of the Constitution, such as the supremacy of the Constitution, the rule of law, and the independence of the judiciary, cannot be amended or abrogated by the Parliament through a constitutional amendment. The Kesavananda Bharati case has thus had far-reaching consequences for the constitutional development of India, making it one of the most significant cases in Indian constitutional law.
Legacy of the Case
However, it is interesting that Kesavananda Bharati lost his own case. The Kerala land reforms laws had been given protection of Parliament when the Indira Gandhi government brought in the 29th Constitution Amendment Act. The Supreme Court upheld the laws and protection given to them. The mutt of Kesavananda Bharati lost its property but not before winning a constitutional guarantee to the fundamental rights of the citizens. Kesavananda Bharati died of age-related ailments in 2020, leaving behind a legacy that has shaped the course of Indian constitutional history.
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