Article 368: Is a Constitutional Amendment Provision Necessary to the Constitutional Scheme?

The First Amendment of 1951 — the very first exercise of the constitutional amending power — was enacted within a mere 16 months of the Constitution coming into force, by a Provisional Parliament identical in membership to the Constituent Assembly. Against this background, does Constitutional jurisprudence allow a supreme law enshrining timeless principles of governance to be amended?

Drawing the Constitutional Line — Restricting Fundamental Rights

The doctrine of reasonable restrictions under Part 3 permits the State to regulate and limit fundamental rights within defined constitutional boundaries. Articles 31A and 31B, however, do not merely restrict — they altogether exclude certain laws from the scrutiny of fundamental rights. What is the constitutional line that should be drawn for the restriction or abrogation of fundamental rights?

Articles 31A, 31B and 31C: Competing Protections and the Cost to Fundamental Rights

Articles 31A, 31B and 31C each offer a different degree of constitutional protection to different categories of laws. Which poses the more compelling constitutional challenge — laws in the form of a Constitutional Amendment, shielded by Article 31B yet still challengeable against the basic structure doctrine, or ordinary laws fortified by Articles 31A and 31C against fundamental rights? And at what cost has this protection come over seventy-five years?