Constitutional Provisions

📜 Article 31A and 31B of the Indian Constitution

🌾 Context: Why were these Articles needed?

After Independence, India’s biggest challenge was addressing agrarian inequality:

• Vast lands were controlled by a few Zamindars.
• Millions of farmers were landless or had insecure rights.
• The government wanted to bring land reforms—abolish Zamindari, redistribute surplus land, impose ceilings on land holdings.

But there was a constitutional problem.

Laws like Zamindari Abolition Acts were challenged in courts as violations of Fundamental Rights—especially:

• Article 14 (Right to Equality), and
• Article 19 (Right to Property – as it existed earlier)

So to protect these laws, the Constitution was amended, and two protective shields were created:

• Article 31A
• Article 31B + Ninth Schedule

Let’s now explore them individually.

🛡️ Article 31A: Protection for Laws Related to Property Reforms

🔍 What does it say?

• Any law that provides for:
  1. Acquisition of estates by the State,
  2. State control over private property (temporarily),
  3. Mergers of corporations for public interest,
  4. End of management/control rights of big industrialists, or
  5. Cancellation of contracts for extracting minerals…

👉 …CANNOT be declared void just because it violates Article 14 or 19.

This applies even if the law abridges or takes away those fundamental rights.

🧠 Logic: These reforms are for public interest, especially for social and economic justice.

📝 Two Provisos (Important):

1. If the law is made by a State legislature, it must get President’s assent.
2. If a person is personally cultivating land within ceiling limits, that land cannot be acquired without fair compensation.

🔁 In short: Land reforms won’t be invalidated just because they infringe upon equality or property rights.

🛡️ Article 31B: Validation of Laws Listed in the Ninth Schedule

🔍 What does it do?

• Any law mentioned in the Ninth Schedule is immunized from being challenged in courts on the basis that it violates Fundamental Rights.

🚨 Even if:

• A law is already declared unconstitutional by a court, if it’s included in the Ninth Schedule, it is revived and validated.
• The protection is retrospective—works from the past.

🧠 Think of Ninth Schedule as a “Constitutional Vault” where you put laws for permanent protection.

⚖️ Important Supreme Court Rulings:

🔹 Golaknath v. State of Punjab (1967)

• Said that Fundamental Rights cannot be amended.
• This affected land reform laws being put into Ninth Schedule.
• In response, Article 31A and 31B were reinforced via Constitutional Amendments.

🔹 Kesavananda Bharati Case (1973)

• Introduced the Basic Structure Doctrine.
• Parliament can amend the Constitution, but not destroy its basic features.

🔹 I.R. Coelho v. State of Tamil Nadu (2007)

• Landmark judgment.
• Supreme Court ruled:

“Laws placed in Ninth Schedule after April 24, 1973 can be reviewed by the court if they violate Basic Structure.”

🧩 Summary Table

Article	Purpose	Protects Laws Related To	Can It Override Fundamental Rights?	Conditions
31A	Saves property-related laws	Land reforms, industrial regulation	Yes, from Art. 14 and 19	State laws need President’s assent
31B	Validates laws in 9th Schedule	Any law listed in 9th Schedule	Yes, but subject to Basic Structure post-1973	List maintained by Constitutional Amendments

📌 Conclusion:

“Articles 31A and 31B were not just legal provisions—they were tools of social justice.”

They allowed India to carry out radical land reforms without getting stuck in endless litigation. But with time, the judiciary ensured that even these articles do not become a license to violate the Constitution’s core values.