Given below are two statements: I. The doctrine of basic structure has been propounded by the Supreme Court in the Kesavananda Bharati case in 1973. II. The Indian Parliament has the power to amend the whole Constitution. In the light of the above statements, choose the correct answer from the options given below :

History

• According to the judgments in the Shankari Prasad case (1951) and the Sajjan Singh case (1965), the Supreme Court gave Parliament absolute power to modify the Constitution.
• After the landmark case of Golaknath v. State of Punjab, the Parliament passed several Amendments to overrule the Golaknath case’s ruling. The 24th Amendment was adopted in 1971, and the 25th and 29th Amendments followed in 1972.
• 24th Constitutional (Amendment) Act, 1971– Parliament can amend any part of the Constitution.
• 25th Constitutional (Amendment) Act, 1972– The right to property was removed as a fundamental right.
• 29th Constitutional (Amendment) Act, 1972 – The act inserted the Kerala Land Reforms Act into the 9th Schedule.

Keshavananda Bharati case

• The Kesavananda Bharati case (1973) is a landmark Supreme Court of India case. Hence, statement I is correct.
• It established the doctrine of basic structure of the Indian Constitution.
• The Court held that the Parliament of India does have the power to amend the Constitution. However, this power is not unlimited. There are certain basic features of the Constitution that cannot be amended by Parliament. Hence, statement II is incorrect.