Major Constitutional Amendments and Landmark Constitutional Decisions

1. BPSC demand: study amendment–Article–case as a triangle

Prelims questions ask amendment numbers matched with provisions, chronological order, paired amendments with opposite effects, or cases matched with holdings. Always ask: What changed? Where? Did a later amendment or judgment qualify it? The Forty-second Amendment, for example, expanded Article 31C to all Directive Principles, but Minerva Mills invalidated that expansion.

For a Mains answer use: constitutional problem → amendment or judgment → governing principle → institutional consequence. Bihar becomes relevant in State ratification, reservation, Article 356, local government and federal finance.

2. Amendment procedure: the base rule

Route	Rule	Examples
Simple majority outside Article 368	Ordinary legislative majority; specified changes are not deemed Article 368 amendments.	Articles 2–4 State changes; Article 169 State Legislative Council.
Article 368 special majority	Each House separately: majority of total membership plus two-thirds present and voting. No joint sitting; President shall assent.	Most provisions, subject to basic structure.
Special majority plus State ratification	Same parliamentary majority plus at least one-half of State Legislatures before assent.	Listed federal matters: Presidential election, specified executive/court provisions, Seventh Schedule Lists, State representation and Article 368.

3. High-yield amendments: 1951–1978

Amendment	Core change	Caution
1st, 1951	Inserted Article 15(4), Articles 31A–31B and Ninth Schedule; altered Article 19 restrictions.	Ninth Schedule is not absolutely immune after I.R. Coelho.
7th, 1956	Reworked the First Schedule and machinery after States reorganisation; replaced Part A/B/C classification with States and Union territories.	Different from the States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
24th, 1971	Expressly affirmed constituent power to amend any provision; amended Articles 13 and 368; made Presidential assent mandatory.	Response to Golak Nath; still limited by Kesavananda.
25th, 1971	Inserted Article 31C for Article 39(b)–(c) laws and changed the then property-compensation framework.	Kesavananda struck the clause barring inquiry into the law's connection with 39(b)–(c).
26th, 1971	Ended recognition of former rulers and privy purses; inserted Article 363A.	Number 26 = privy purses.
36th, 1975	Made Sikkim a full State and inserted Article 371F.	The 35th had created the earlier associate-State arrangement.
42nd, 1976	Added Socialist, Secular and integrity to Preamble; inserted Duties; expanded DPSPs, tribunals and Union influence; attempted to enlarge 31C and immunise amendments.	Not every provision survived.
43rd, 1977	Repealed several 42nd restrictions, including Article 31D, and restored important court jurisdiction.	Correction began before the 44th.
44th, 1978	“Armed rebellion” replaced “internal disturbance”; Emergency safeguards strengthened; Articles 20–21 protected; five-year terms restored; property moved to Article 300A.	Property is a constitutional right, not a Fundamental Right.

4. High-yield amendments: democracy, local government and reservation

Amendment	What to remember	Hook
52nd, 1985	Introduced anti-defection.	Tenth Schedule; Speaker decision reviewable under Kihoto.
61st, 1988	Voting age reduced 21 to 18.	Article 326.
69th, 1991	NCT Delhi framework with Assembly and Council of Ministers.	Articles 239AA–239AB; not ordinary full Statehood.
73rd, 1992	Panchayats, Gram Sabha, reservation, five-year term, State Election/Finance Commissions.	Part IX, Eleventh Schedule; effective 24 April 1993.
74th, 1992	Municipalities, ward committees and district/metropolitan planning.	Part IXA, Twelfth Schedule; effective 1 June 1993.
77th, 1995	Enabled SC/ST reservation in promotion, subject to constitutional requirements.	Article 16(4A).
81st, 2000	Backlog reserved vacancies may form a separate class for ceiling calculation in year filled.	Article 16(4B).
82nd, 2000	Enabled relaxation of qualifying marks/standards for SC/ST promotion.	Proviso to Article 335.
85th, 2001	Added consequential seniority to Article 16(4A), with stated retrospective operation.	Enabling, not an automatic universal command.
86th, 2002	Education for ages 6–14 as a right; recast early-childhood Article 45; added parental duty.	Articles 21A, 45, 51A(k).
91st, 2003	Ministerial cap of 15% (State minimum 12); deleted one-third split defence.	Articles 75(1A), 164(1A), 361B; Tenth Schedule.
93rd, 2005	Enabled admission provisions for SEBC/SC/ST in institutions including private ones, excluding Article 30(1) minority institutions.	Article 15(5).

5. High-yield amendments: 97th–106th

Amendment	Core effect	Present position
97th, 2011	Cooperatives added to Article 19(1)(c); Article 43B and Part IXB inserted.	Rajendra N. Shah (2021) invalidated Part IXB for intra-State cooperatives for lack of ratification; multi-State portion and Articles 19(1)(c), 43B survived.
99th, 2014	Sought National Judicial Appointments Commission.	Amendment and NJAC Act invalidated in 2015 for violating judicial independence/basic structure.
100th, 2015	Implemented India–Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement through First Schedule changes.	Connect with Berubari and constitutional authority for territory exchange.
101st, 2016	GST constitutional architecture.	Articles 246A, 269A, 279A; GST Council is constitutional.
102nd, 2018	Constitutional status to NCBC and Central List framework.	Articles 338B, 342A, 366(26C); State power addressed by 105th.
103rd, 2019	Enabled up to 10% additional EWS reservation for sections outside Article 15(4)/(5) classes.	Articles 15(6), 16(6); upheld 3:2 in Janhit Abhiyan (2022).
104th, 2019	Extended SC/ST reserved seats in Lok Sabha/Assemblies by ten years; did not extend Anglo-Indian nomination.	Article 334 period reaches 2030.
105th, 2021	Restored/clarified States' and UTs' power to maintain their own SEBC lists for their purposes.	Amended Articles 338B, 342A, 366 after Maratha reservation interpretation.
106th, 2023	One-third women's reservation in Lok Sabha, State Assemblies and Delhi Assembly, including within SC/ST seats.	Articles 330A, 332A, 334A and 239AA change. Text links operation to commencement, later census and delimitation; assent alone does not instantly reserve current seats.

6. Forty-second versus Forty-fourth

Area	42nd	44th or later position
Preamble	Added Socialist, Secular, integrity.	Words remain; 44th did not remove them.
Legislative term	Raised normal term to six years.	Restored five.
Emergency	Strengthened Emergency-era Union dominance.	Armed rebellion test, written Cabinet advice and tighter approval/renewal safeguards.
Rights in Emergency	Broadened dominance.	Articles 20–21 cannot be suspended by Article 359 order; Article 358 limited to war/external-aggression Emergency.
Property	Did not remove it from Part III.	Repealed Articles 19(1)(f), 31; inserted Article 300A.
Article 31C	Tried protection for laws implementing any DPSP.	Minerva Mills struck expansion; protection remains tied to Article 39(b)–(c).
Amending power	Inserted Article 368(4)–(5) to exclude review and limits.	Minerva Mills, not the 44th alone, invalidated those clauses.

7. Seventy-third versus Seventy-fourth

Feature	73rd	74th
Sphere	Rural Panchayats	Urban Municipalities
Part/Schedule	Part IX; Eleventh Schedule, 29 subjects	Part IXA; Twelfth Schedule, 18 subjects
Base forum	Gram Sabha	Ward Committee in specified larger municipalities; no identical constitutional urban Gram Sabha
Planning	District Planning Committee link	District and Metropolitan Planning Committees where applicable
Elections	State Election Commission, not Election Commission of India
Finance	State Finance Commission; Article 243Y applies its municipal review role

8. Amending power and basic structure: case chain

Decision	Holding	Trap
Shankari Prasad (1951)	An Article 368 amendment was not “law” under Article 13 for this purpose; Parliament could amend rights.	It did not create basic structure.
Sajjan Singh (1965)	Reaffirmed the earlier position; separate opinions foreshadowed later debate.	Not the Golak Nath rule.
Golak Nath (1967)	By majority treated amendment as law under Article 13 and prospectively barred abridgment of Fundamental Rights.	Later displaced by 24th Amendment and Kesavananda.
Kesavananda Bharati (1973)	Every part may be amended, but basic structure cannot be damaged or destroyed.	No single exhaustive list; not a ban on amendment.
Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain (1975)	Invalidated amendment-made immunity for specified high-office elections; free/fair elections, rule of law and review informed basic structure.	Not the Article 356 case.
Minerva Mills (1980)	Limited amending power and review are basic; invalidated Article 368(4)–(5) and broad Article 31C expansion.	Did not invalidate all DPSPs; stressed Part III–IV harmony.
Waman Rao (1981)	Used 24 April 1973 as the cut-off for scrutiny of later Ninth Schedule insertions.	Did not make every scheduled law immune.
I.R. Coelho (2007)	Post-24 April 1973 Ninth Schedule laws may be reviewed if their effect damages rights forming part of basic structure.	Ninth Schedule is not a complete shield.

9. Fundamental-rights transformation

Decision	Principle	Exam connection
Champakam Dorairajan (1951)	Under the then text, enforceable Fundamental Rights prevailed in conflict with DPSPs.	Background to Article 15(4), First Amendment.
R.C. Cooper (1970)	Looked to effect of State action and weakened sealed compartments between rights.	Bridge from A.K. Gopalan to Maneka.
Maneka Gandhi (1978)	Article 21 procedure must be fair, just, reasonable; Articles 14, 19, 21 interconnect where applicable.	“Procedure established by law” does not validate arbitrary procedure.
Vishaka (1997)	Binding workplace sexual-harassment safeguards in a legislative vacuum based on rights and relevant international norms.	Operated until the 2013 statute.
K.S. Puttaswamy (2017)	Unanimous nine-judge bench recognised privacy as a Fundamental Right rooted in liberty/dignity across Part III.	Privacy is not absolute; restriction needs constitutional justification.
Navtej Singh Johar (2018)	Read down Section 377 regarding consensual adult same-sex relations; affirmed dignity, equality, privacy and constitutional morality.	Did not erase every then-existing application of Section 377.

10. Federalism, democracy and institutions

Decision	Holding	BPSC hook
In re Berubari Union (1960)	Cession required constitutional amendment; opinion did not then treat Preamble as part of Constitution.	Kesavananda later held Preamble is part, but not an independent power source.
Kihoto Hollohan (1992)	Upheld Tenth Schedule in substance; presiding officer acts as tribunal and final decision is reviewable.	No absolute Speaker immunity.
S.R. Bommai (1994)	Article 356 proclamation reviewable; majority ordinarily tested on floor; secularism basic.	Governor, federalism, President's Rule.
L. Chandra Kumar (1997)	High Court review under 226/227 and Supreme Court review under 32 are basic structure; tribunal decisions remain reviewable.	Tribunals supplement, not replace, High Courts.
Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (2015)	Invalidated 99th Amendment/NJAC Act; judicial independence central to basic structure.	NJAC is enacted history, not operative machinery.
Rajendra N. Shah (2021)	Part IXB failed for intra-State cooperatives because federal amendment lacked State ratification; multi-State part survived.	Ratification is substantive federal protection.

11. Equality and reservation chain

Issue	Position	Caution
OBC reservation	Indra Sawhney (1992) upheld 27% Central OBC reservation, required creamy-layer exclusion, treated 50% as ordinary ceiling and held Article 16(4) did not then permit promotion reservation.	Later amendments inserted 16(4A)/(4B), still subject to doctrine.
Promotion	77th, 81st, 82nd, 85th concern promotion, backlog, relaxed standards and consequential seniority.	Enabling power is not automatic right.
EWS	103rd inserted 15(6), 16(6); Janhit Abhiyan upheld it 3:2.	Up to 10%, excluding classes under 15(4)/(5).
SEBC identification	102nd constitutionalised NCBC/Central List; 105th restored/clarified separate State/UT lists.	105th did not create NCBC.
Political seats	104th extended SC/ST reserved seats to 2030 without extending Anglo-Indian nomination.	Different from education/employment reservation.

13. Basic structure: disciplined understanding

There is no closed constitutional catalogue. Repeatedly recognised features include constitutional supremacy; republican and democratic government; secularism; federalism; separation of powers; rule of law; judicial review; judicial independence; free and fair elections; limited amending power; dignity, freedom and equality; and harmony between Fundamental Rights and DPSPs.

Distinguish three tests: an important provision is not automatically basic structure in every detail; ordinary legislation is usually tested directly against constitutional provisions; a constitutional amendment is tested against basic structure. If severability applies, invalidity of one part need not erase every part.