42nd Amendment of the Indian Constitution (Mini Constitution)

1
42nd Amendment of the Indian Constitution (Mini
Constitution) For every law professional, law
student and all those persons who are appearing
for the government exams, it is necessary to know
all amendments happened in the constitution,
especially the one which has brought some
drastic changes in India and Indian Judicial
System. One such amendment is the 42nd amendment
of the Indian Constitution, this amendment is
also known as the Mini Constitution, in this
Blog we will find out why and why this amendment
holds such importance. But in the history of
Constitutional amendments, this one is the most
debatable as
well as a controversial amendment, also the
Constitution Mr B.R. Ambedkar opposed the
father of the Indian amendment in the offering
online law
constituent assembly. Any institution which is
certification courses in India on constitutional
law teaches their learner about this
mini-constitution. History of the Amendment The
history behind this amendment is quite
interesting, as it is related to one of the most
tragic times in India and also includes abuse of
power and authority. After winning the election
in 1971 and becoming prime minister of India,
Smt. Indira Gandhi was accused by her opponent Mr
Raj Narayan, of election fraud, and using her
power to manipulate the voters, by either
threatening them or giving them money. For the
first time in Indian history a prime minister of
India was summoned to the court, and the case
was filed in Allahabad High Court. The Allahabad
HC, in 1975 delivered the judgement in which
Indira Gandhi was found guilty, her government
was announced null and void, and she was banned
from participating in the elections for the next
6 years. After the
2
judgement was passed, the case was appealed to
the supreme court, but the result was the same.
Although she was permitted to be working as
Prime minister till the next election happens.
But this decision caused chaos in the whole
country, also the opposition protested against
this and started showing their aggression due to
which Indira Gandhi with the permission of the
President imposed an emergency in India. During
the emergency, many fundamental rights were
violated and many amendments were made to the
constitution i.e, 38th amendment, 39th
amendment, 40th amendment, 41st amendment and
42nd amendment. In all these amendments, the
42nd Amendments bring changes to most parts of
the constitution and it has also introduced
duties in the constitution for all citizens. To
learn more about the amendments law learners opt
for online legal certification courses. Mini
Constitution The reason behind calling this
amendment the Mini constitution of India is
that, this amendment aims to change the whole
basic structure of the Indian constitution. This
amendment also tried to overturn the supreme
court decision on Kesavananda Bharati vs State of
Kerala. The extension of the Lok sabha period
from 5 to 6 years happened due to this
amendment. The judicial review power was also
limited by this amendment. This amendment
affects the article 31, 31C, 39, 55, 74, 77, 81,
82, 83, 100, 102, 103, and many other articles,
also inserted many articles in the
constitutions, and amended the schedule
7. Provision added by the 42nd Amendment There
were many provisions which were added to the
constitution through this amendment which
affected many aspects of the Indian judiciary
and administrative system, below are mentioned
some of them Preamble This amendment affects
the introductory statement of the Indian
Constitution, Few new words were added to the
preamble. This can be divided into two-part.
Firstly, the representation that was originally
India as a Sovereign Democratic Republic
through this amendment became
3
India's Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic
Republic. Then Secondly, Unity of the nation
was replaced by Unity and Integrity of the
Nation. The changes in the preamble were
heavily criticised, The head of the Drafting
committee Dr B.R Ambedkar, opposed the addition
of the word Secular and Socialist as these words
represent different meanings across the world.
Fundamental Duties 42nd amendment introduced
Article 51 A in Part IV(A) of the Indian
Constitution on the recommendation of the Swaran S
ingh Mehta
4

• Committee. Before the amendment, the Fundamental
  Rights and Directive Principle of State Policy
  already existed in the constitution, but the
  government believed that there should be certain
  duties imposed on citizens of India. But these
  duties are not law enforceable. At the time of
  the amendment there was a total of Ten
  Fundamental duties introduced, but through the
  72nd amendment Eleventh Fundamental duty was
  introduced, so at present, there is a total of 11
  Fundamental duties. The introduction of
  Fundamental duties in the constitution was not
  criticized as their main objective of them is in
  favour of the public interest.
• 7th Schedule
• This amendment transferred 5 subjects from the
  State list to the concurrent list, the following
  are the subjects Education, Forests, Weights
  Measures, Protection of Wild Animals and Birds,
  and Administration of Justice.
• Parliament
• Through this amendment there were certain changes
  in the parliament of India, some of them are
  mentioned below. i,e.
• The president was bound to follow the advice of
  the cabinet.
• The Speaker of Lok Sabha and Prime minister were
  given discretionary powers.
• Allowed the Centre to position forces in the
  state to restore law and order during any
  conflicts.
• The Directive Principles should outweigh
  fundamental rights and any legislation enacted
  by Parliament to this effect was kept beyond the
  courts judicial review.
• Judicial Power of High Court
• This amendment curtailed the judicial review
  power of the High Court was curtailed.
• Addition of Articles
• Article 323 A and 323 B, and Part XIV, i.e,
  Tribunals for Administrative Matters and
  Tribunals for Other Matters, were added to the
  Constitution.

5

• Directive Principles of State Policy
• Three new DPSPs were introduced to the existing
  list of DPSPs in Part IV and one DPSP was
  changed. They are as follows
• Article 39 To provide an opportunity for
  Childrens growth.
• Article 39A To promote fair justice and to
  provide poor people proper free legal
  assistance.
• Article 43 A Take measures to ensure that
  workers are involved in the management of
  industries.
• Article 48A To safeguard forests and wildlife,
  and to protect and improve the environment.
• Conclusion
• Law is an extensive branch of study, Indian
  Constitution which is the base of the Law in
  India is an important document that every law
  aspirant must know completely. Every amendment in
  the Indian Constitution is equally important to
  learn and understand the need behind it and also
  know the consequences of it. Compared to them,
  the 42nd Amendment is a little more important
  due to its interference in most parts of the
  constitution and its consequences as well as the
  criticism. Many legal learning institutions
  providing online law certification courses teach
  this topic at least once, as it has vital
  importance in Indian Constitutional history.