First Amendment to the Indian Constitution

Subject: Polity

Section: Constitutional Framework

Concept :

Congress Party once even amended the Constitution to curb free speech while the Narendra Modi government or the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government neither imposed any ban on any media house nor curtailed anyone’s right to free speech and expression in any way, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said.
He said the passage of the first amendment to the Constitution was debated for several days as it was curbing the freedom of speech and expression ( Article 19 ), a fundamental right given in the constitution.

Constitution (First Amendment) Act

The First Amendment was passed in 1951 by the Provisional Parliament, which was elected on a limited franchise.
This Amendment established a precedent for rewriting the Constitution to override judicial decisions that prevented the government from carrying out its alleged obligations to specific policies and programs.
The 1951 Constitution (First Amendment) Act amended the Fundamental Rights clauses of the Indian Constitution in several ways.
The First Amendment Act amended articles 15, 19, 85, 87, 174, 176, 341, 342, 372 and 376.
It gave ways to limit freedom of speech and expression, supported measures to abolish zamindari, and made it clear that the right to equality does not preclude passing laws that give “particular consideration” to society’s most vulnerable groups.
It also added Ninth Schedule to protect the land reforms and other laws included in it from the judicial review.
After that, Articles 31A and 31B were inserted.

Implications:

Under the provisions of Article 31, laws placed in the Ninth Schedule cannot be challenged in a court of law on the ground that they violated the fundamental rights of citizens.
Article 31(A), has vested enormous power to the State with respect to the acquisition of estates or taking over management of any property or corporation in public interest.
It sought to exclude such acquisitions from the scope of judicial review under Articles 14 and 19.
The Ninth Schedule was widely misused.
Ninth Schedule contains more than 250 legislations receiving protection under Ninth Schedule from judicial scrutiny.