Kesavananda Bharati vs State of Kerala

#GS-02 Judicial Review

Supreme Court upheld the validity of the 24th amendment act and declared that parliament is empowered to take away or abridge any of the Fundamental Rights.
However, parliament do not have the power to alter the ‘basic structure’ of the constitution.
The judgement implied that the parliament can only amend the constitution and not recreate it.
In simpler terms power to amend is not a power to destroy.
Hence the Basic Structure doctrine was born.

Basic Structure doctrine

Constitution under Article 368 grants power to the Parliament to amend the constitution in case of a necessity.
The doctrine of basic structure is a judicial innovation to maintain the integrity of the constitution and to ensure that the power of amendment is not misused by Parliament.
Basic Structure doctrine acts as a limitation on the power of the Parliament to prevent it from turning India into a totalitarian state.
The doctrine does not have a textual basis and is purely a judicial innovation.
The origins of the basic structure doctrine can be found in the post-Nazi German Constitution which was amended to protect some basic laws.
Supreme Court reaffirmed the Basic Structure doctrine in the Minerva mills case.
The basic structure has not yet been fully defined by the Supreme Court as it has continued to enhance it with some new contents from time-to-time.

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