1951
According to it, Articles 15, 19, 85, 87, 174, 176, 341, 342, 376 were
amended and Articles 31A and 3IB inserted and Ninth Schedule was added.
The Constitution (24th Amendment) Act, 1971: It affirmed the power of
the Parliament to amend any part of the Constitution. After this
amendment, the
President is bound to assent to Constitution Amendment Bill. Education
was transferred to the Concurrent List by this amendment.
The Constitution (31st Amendment) Act, 1973: increased the elective
strength of the Lok Sabha from 525 to 545. Under the Act, the upper
limit of
representatives of the States goes up from 500 to 525 and that of the
Union Territories decreases from 25 to 20.
The Constitution (36th Amendment) Act, 1975: By this Act, Sikkim became
the 22nd State of the Indian Union.
The Constitution (37th Amendment) Act, 1975: was passed by Parliament
on April 26, 1975, to provide for a Legislative Assembly and a Council
of Ministers to
Arunachal Pradesh, the country's north-easternmost Union Territory.
The Constitution (39th Amendment) Act, 1975: The Bill was passed by the
Lok Sabha on August 7 and received Presidential assent on August
9,1975. The Act
places beyond challenge in courts the election to Parliament of a
person holding the office of Prime Minister or Speaker and the election
of President and
Vice-President.
The Constitution (40th Amendment) Act, 1976: This Amendment has a
three-fold objective: (1) It places beyond challenge in courts some
major Central laws;
(2) It gives similar protection to several State enactments, mostly
relating to land legislation, by including them in the Ninth Schedule
of the Constitution; and
(3) It provides that the limits of the territorial waters, the
Continental Shelf, the Exclusive Economic Zone and the maritime zones
of India shall be specified
from time to time by law made by Parliament.
The Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976: It was enacted during the
period of internal emergency. It was passed by Parliament on November
11, 1976
and received Presidential assent on December 18, 1976.
The Amendment established beyond doubt the supremacy of Parliament over
the other wings of Government; gave the Directive Principles precedence
over
the Fundamental Rights; enumerated for the first time a set of ten
Fundamental Duties. It further imposed limits on the power and
jurisdiction of the judiciary;
raised the term of the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha from five to six
years; authorised the use of Central armed forces in any State to deal
with law and
order problems, made the President bound by the advice of the Council
of Ministers and envisaged the establishment of administrative
tribunals for service
matters of Government employees and also other tribunals for economic
offences. The Act also clearly laid down that no Constitutional
Amendment could be
questioned in any court of law.
The Constitution (43rd Amendment) Act, 1978: It received the
Presidential assent on April 13, 1978. This Act repeals the obnoxious
provisions of the
Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act passed during the Emergency. It
restores civil liberties by deleting Article 3ID which gave powers to
Parliament to curtail
even legitimate trade union activity under the guise of legislation for
the prevention of anti-national activities. The new law, which was
ratified by more than
half of the States in accordance with the Constitution, also restores
legislative powers to the States to make appropriate provision for
anti-national activities
consistent with the Fundamental Rights. Under the Act, the judiciary
has also been restored to its rightful place. The Supreme Court will
now have power to
invalidate State laws, a power taken away by the 42nd Amendment Act.
The High Courts will also be able to go into the question of
constitutional validity of
Central laws thereby enabling persons living in distant places to
obtain speedy justice without having to come to the Supreme Court.
The Constitution (44th Amendment) Act, 1978: The Constitution (45 th
Amendment) Bill, re-numbered as the 44th Amendment came into force on
April 30,
1979, when the President gave his assent. The Act removes major
distortions in the Constitution introduced during the Emergency. The
duration of the Lok
Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies has been reduced from six to
five years—the normal term which was extended during the Emergencyunder
the 42nd
Amendment to achieve some political purposes. The Right to Property
ceases to be a Fundamental Right and becomes only a legal right
according to the
Constitution 44th Amendment. The Act also extends, for the first time
since independence, constitutional protection for publication of the
proceedings of
Parliament and State Legislatures, except in cases where it is proved
to be "malicious". Another important feature of the Act is that any
proclamation of
Emergency need henceforward, be issued by the President only after
receiving the advice of the Cabinet as a whole in writing. The
President will not be called
upon to act on the basis of advice by the Prime Minister on his own
without consulting his Cabinet. Other safeguards provide that the
proclamation will have
to be adopted by a two-thirds majority of the members of both Houses of
Parliament within a month. The 44th Amendment provides safeguards
against future
subversion of the Constitution for establishing an authoritarian
regime. It contains provisions which are designed to make it impossible
to impose the kind of
emergency the country had experienced for 19 months.
The Constitution (45th Amendment) Act, 1980: The Act extends
reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes
in Parliament and the
State Assemblies and the representation of Anglo-Indians by nomination
for a further period of 10 years.
The Constitution (46th Amendment) Bill, 1982: It seeks to authorise the
government to prepare an authoritative text of the Constitution, in
Hindi.
The Constitution (52nd Amendment) Act, 1985: The Act has made defection
to another party, after elections illegal. Any member defecting to
another party
after elections will be disqualified from being member of Parliament or
State Legislature.
The Constitution (53rd Amendment) Act, 1986: It confers Statehood on
Mizoram and ensures against unnecessary interference by the Central
Government
with the laws relating to spheres of social relationship and community
conduct applicable to Mizoram.
The Constitution (54th Amendment) Act, 1986: It enhances the salaries
of Judges of High Courts and Supreme Court of India. The salary of
Chief Justice of
India will be Rs 10,000; Chief Justice of High Courts Rs 9000; Judges
of Supreme Court Rs 9000; and Judges of High Courts Rs 8000.
The Constitution (55th Amendment) Act, 1987: It grants Statehood to
Arunachal Pradesh which consequently became the 24th State of the
Indian Union.
The Constitution (56th Amendment) Act, 1987: It confers Statehood on
Goa and forms a new Union Territory of Daman and Diu. Goa thus became
the 25th
State of the Indian Republic.
The Constitution (57th Amendment) Act, 1987: It made a special
provision for the setting up of the new State of Goa. Consequently
Daman and Diu were
separated from the former to form a Union Territory.
The Constitution (58th Amendment) Act, 1988: It provides for special
arrangements with regard to reservation of seats for Scheduled Tribes
in the States of
Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya. By amending Article
322 the adjustment of seats has been frozen until 2000 A.D.
The Constitution (59th Amendment) Act, 1988: It empowered the Central
Government to impose Emergency in Punjab when deemed necessary. Under
the
amendment, President's rule can be extended upto three years. Earlier
maximum period was two years.
The Constitution (61st Amendment) Act, 1989: It lowered the voting age
from 21 to 18.
The Constitution (62nd Amendment) Act, 1989: It provided for the
extension by another 10 years of reservation of seats in the Parliament
and State
Assemblies for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes and reservation for
Anglo Indian community by nomination.
The Constitution (63rd Amendment) Act, 1989: It repealed Amendment 59
which empowered the government to impose emergency in Punjab.
The Constitution (64th Amendment) Act, 1990: It extended the
President's rule in Punjab by six months.
The Constitution (66th Amendment) Act, 1990: To bring land reforms
within the purview of 9th Schedule of the Constitution.
The Constitution (69th Amendment) Act, 1991: Delhi made National
Capital Region. The Act also made provision for Legislative assembly
and a council of
ministers for Delhi.
The Constitution (70th Amendment) Act, 1992: Before this act was made
Article 54 relating to the election of the President provided for an
electoral college
consisting only of the elected members of Parliament as well as the
legislative assemblies of the States (not of Union Territories). The
amendment provide
for inclusion of members of legislature of Pondicherry and Delhi.
The Constitution (71st Amendment) Act, 1992: The act amends the 8th
Schedule to the Constitution to include Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali
Languages in the
8th Schedule of the Constitution.
The Constitution (72nd Amendment) Act, 1992: To make temporary
provision for the determination of the number of seats reserved for the
Scheduled Tribes
in the State assembly of Tripura, until the re-adjustment of seats is
made on the basis of the first census after the year 2000 under article
170 of the
Constitution.
The Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992: To ensure direct election
to all seats in Panchayats; to reserve seats for SCs and STs in
proportion to their
population; and for reservation of not less than one third of the seats
in Panchayats for women.
The Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992: was made to ensure direct
election to all seats in Nagarpalikas and Municipalities.
The Constitution (75th Amendment) Act 1994: It provides for setting up
of State-level Rent Tribunals to exclude the jurisdiction of all
courts, except that of
the Supreme Court, under Article 136 of the Constitution.
The Constitution (76th Amendment) Act, 1994: It relates to the
Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutes and of appointments or
posts in the Services
under a State, for Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes. The Supreme Court had ruled on November 16, 1992, that the
total reservations
under Article 16(40) of the Constitution should not exceed 50 per cent.
The Constitution (77th Amendment) Act, 1995: According to this Act, the
Government have decided to continue the existing policy of reservation
in promotion
for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
The Constitution (78th Amendment) Act, 1995: It includes land reform
laws in the Ninth Schedule so that they cannot be challenged before the
courts.
The Constitution (79th Amendment) Act, 1999: It extends the reservation
of seats for SC, ST and Anglo-Indians in the Lok Sabha and Legislative
Assemblies
for next 10 years.
The Constitution (80th Amendment) Act, 2000: It deals with an
alternative scheme for sharing taxes between the Union and the States.
The Constitution (81st Amendment) Act, 2000: It provides that the
unfilled vacancies of a year reserved for SC/ST kept for being filled
up in a year as per
Article 16, shall be considered separately for filling vacancies in the
succeeding year and the previous list will not be considered for
filling the 50% quota of the
respective year.
The Constitution (82nd Amendment) Act, 2000: It provides that nothing
in the Article 355 shall prevent the State from making any provisions
in favour of the
members of SC/ST for relaxation in qualifying marks with respect to
examination/job/promotion.
The Constitution (83rd Amendment) Act, 2000: The Act amended Article
243 M to provide that no reservation in Panchayats be made in favour of
SC/ST in
Arunachal Pradesh where the whole population is tribal.
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