Basic structure doctrine

The basic structure doctrine is a common law legal doctrine that the constitution of a sovereign state has certain characteristics that cannot be erased by its legislature. The doctrine is recognised in India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan and Uganda. It was developed by the Supreme Court of India in a series of constitutional law cases in the 1960s and 1970s that culminated in "Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala", where the doctrine was formally adopted.
In "Kesavananda", Justice Hans Raj Khanna propounded that the Constitution of India has certain "basic features" that cannot be altered or destroyed through amendments by the Parliament of India. Key among these "basic features", as expounded by Justice Khanna, are the fundamental rights guaranteed to individuals by the constitution. The doctrine thus forms the basis of the power of the Supreme Court of India to review and strike down constitutional amendments and acts enacted by the Parliament which conflict with or seek to alter this "basic structure" of the Constitution. The basic features of the Constitution have not been explicitly defined by the Judiciary, and the claim of any particular feature of the Constitution to be a "basic" feature is determined by the Court in each case that comes before it.
The Supreme Court's initial position on constitutional amendments had been that any part of the Constitution was amendable and that the Parliament might, by passing a Constitution Amendment Act in compliance with the requirements of article 368, amend any provision of the Constitution, including the Fundamental Rights and article 368. That the Constitution has "basic features" was first theorised in 1964, by Justice J.R. Mudholkar in his dissent, in the case of "Sajjan Singh v. State of Rajasthan". He wondered whether the ambit of Article 368 included the power to alter a basic feature or rewrite a part of the Constitution. He wrote, 
In 1967, the Supreme Court reversed its earlier decisions in "Golaknath v. State of Punjab". It held that Fundamental Rights included in Part III of the Constitution are given a "transcendental position" and are beyond the reach of Parliament. It also declared any amendment that "takes away or abridges" a Fundamental Right conferred by Part III as unconstitutional. In 1973, the basic structure doctrine was formally introduced with rigorous legal reasoning in Justice Hans Raj Khanna's decisive judgment in the landmark decision of "Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala". Previously, the Supreme Court had held that the power of Parliament to amend the Constitution was unfettered. However, in this landmark ruling, the Court adjudicated that while Parliament has "wide" powers, it did not have the power to destroy or emasculate the basic elements or fundamental features of the constitution.
Although "Kesavananda" was decided by a narrow margin of 7–6, the basic structure doctrine, as propounded in Justice Khanna's judgement, has since gained widespread legal and scholarly acceptance due to a number of subsequent cases and judgments relying heavily upon it to strike down Parliamentary amendments that were held to be violative of the basic structure and therefore unconstitutional. Primary among these was the imposition of a state of emergency by Indira Gandhi in 1975, and her subsequent attempt to suppress her prosecution through the 39th Amendment. When the "Kesavananda" case was decided, the underlying apprehension of the majority bench that elected representatives could not be trusted to act responsibly was perceived as unprecedented. However, the passage of the 39th Amendment by the Indian National Congress' majority in central and state legislatures, proved that in fact such apprehension was well-grounded. In "Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain" and "Minerva Mills v. Union of India", Constitution Benches of the Supreme Court used the basic structure doctrine to strike down the 39th Amendment and parts of the 42nd Amendment respectively, and paved the way for restoration of Indian democracy.
The Supreme Court's position on constitutional amendments laid out in its judgements is that Parliament can amend the Constitution but cannot destroy its "basic structure".
The basic structure doctrine was rejected by the High Court of Singapore. It was initially also rejected by the Federal Court of Malaysia, but was later accepted by it. Conversely, the doctrine was initially approved in Belize by the Supreme Court, but rejected by the Court of Appeal.
Definition.
That the Constitution has "basic features" was first theorised in 1964, by Justice J.R. Mudholkar in his dissent, in the case of "Sajjan Singh v. State of Rajasthan". He wrote,
Supreme Court, through the decisive judgement of Justice H. R. Khanna in Keshavananda Bharti v. State of Kerala (1973) case, declared that the basic structure/features of the constitution is resting on the basic foundation of the constitution. The basic foundation of the constitution is the dignity and the freedom of its citizens which is of supreme importance and can not be destroyed by any legislation of the parliament. The basic features of the Constitution have not been explicitly defined by the Judiciary. At least, 20 features have been described as "basic" or "essential" by the Courts in numerous cases, and have been incorporated in the basic structure. Only Judiciary decides the basic features of the Constitution. In "Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Naraian" and also in the "Minerva Mills" case, it was observed that the claim of any particular feature of the Constitution to be a "basic" feature would be determined by the Court in each case that comes before it. Some of the features of the Constitution termed as "basic" are listed below:
Background.
The Supreme Court's initial position on constitutional amendments was that no part of the Constitution was unamendable and that the Parliament might, by passing a Constitution Amendment Act in compliance with the requirements of article 368, amend any provision of the Constitution, including the Fundamental Rights and article 368. In "Shankari Prasad Singh Deo v. Union of India" (AIR. 1951 SC 458), the Supreme Court unanimously held, "The terms of article 368 are perfectly general and empower Parliament to amend the Constitution without any exception whatever. In the context of article 13, “law” must be taken to mean rules or regulations made in exercise of ordinary legislative power and not amendments to the Constitution made in exercise of constituent power, with the result that article 13 (2) does not affect amendments made under article 368. In "Sajjan Singh v. State of Rajasthan" (case citation: 1965 AIR 845, 1965 SCR (1) 933), by a majority of 3–2, the Supreme Court held, "When article 368 confers on Parliament the right to amend the Constitution, the power in question can be exercised over all the provisions of the Constitution. It would be unreasonable to hold that the word "Law" in article 13 (2) takes in Constitution Amendment Acts passed under article 368." In both cases, the power to amend the rights had been upheld on the basis of Article 368.
"Golaknath" case.
In 1967, the Supreme Court reversed its earlier decisions in "Golaknath v. State of Punjab". A bench of eleven judges (the largest ever at the time) of the Supreme Court deliberated as to whether any part of the Fundamental Rights provisions of the constitution could be revoked or limited by amendment of the constitution. The Supreme Court delivered its ruling, by a majority of 6-5 on 27 February 1967. The Court held that an amendment of the Constitution is a legislative process, and that an amendment under article 368 is "law" within the meaning of article 13 of the Constitution and therefore, if an amendment "takes away or abridges" a Fundamental Right conferred by Part III, it is void. Article 13(2) reads, "The State shall not make any law which takes away or abridges the right conferred by this Part and any law made in contravention of this clause shall, to the extent of contravention, be void." The Court also ruled that Fundamental Rights included in Part III of the Constitution are given a "transcendental position" under the Constitution and are kept beyond the reach of Parliament. The Court also held that the scheme of the Constitution and the nature of the freedoms it granted incapacitated Parliament from modifying, restricting or impairing Fundamental Freedoms in Part III. Parliament passed the 24th Amendment in 1971 to abrogate the Supreme Court ruling in the Golaknath case. It amended the Constitution to provide expressly that Parliament has the power to amend any part of the Constitution including the provisions relating to Fundamental Rights. This was done by amending articles 13 and 368 to exclude amendments made under article 368, from article 13's prohibition of any law abridging or taking away any of the Fundamental Rights. Chief Justice Koka Subba Rao writing for the majority held that:
"Kesavananda Bharati" case (1973).
Six years later in 1973, the largest ever Constitution Bench of 13 Judges, heard arguments in "Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala" (case citation: AIR 1973 SC 1461). The Supreme Court reviewed the decision in Golaknath v. State of Punjab, and considered the validity of the 24th, 25th, 26th and 29th Amendments. The Court held, by a margin of 7–6, that although no part of the constitution, including fundamental rights, was beyond the amending power of Parliament (thus overruling the 1967 case), the "basic structure of the Constitution could not be abrogated even by a constitutional amendment". The decision of the Judges is complex, consisting of multiple opinions taking up one complete volume in the law reporter "Supreme Court Cases". The findings included the following:
Nine judges (including two dissentients) signed a statement of summary for the judgment that reads:
The ruling thus established the principle that the basic structure cannot be amended on the grounds that a power to amend is not a power to destroy.
Defining the basic structure.
The majority had differing opinions on what the "basic structure" of the Constitution comprised
Chief Justice Sarv Mittra Sikri, writing for the majority, indicated that the basic structure consists of the following:
Justices Shelat and Grover in their opinion added three features to the Chief Justice's list:
Justices Hegde and Mukherjea, in their opinion, provided a separate and shorter list:
Justice Jaganmohan Reddy preferred to look at the preamble, stating that the basic features of the constitution were laid out by that part of the document, and thus could be represented by:
The Emergency (1975).
The Court reaffirmed and applied the basic structure doctrine in "Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain", popularly known as Election case. The constitutionality of Article 329A, which had been inserted by the 39th Amendment in 1975 was challenged in this case. Shortly after the imposition of the Emergency, a bench of thirteen judges was hastily assembled to hear the case. Presided over by Chief Justice Ajit Nath Ray, the court had to determine the degree to which amendments were restricted by the basic structure theory. Ray, who was among the dissenters in the Kesavananda Bharati case, had been promoted to Chief Justice of India on 26 April 1973, superseding three senior Judges, Shelat, Grover and Hegde (all in the majority in the same case), which was unprecedented in Indian legal history. On November 10 and 11, the team of civil libertarian barristers, led by Nanabhoy Palkhivala, argued against the Union government's application for reconsideration of the Kesavananda decision. Some of the judges accepted his argument on the very first day, the others on the next; by the end of the second day, the Chief Justice was reduced to a minority of one. On the morning of 12 November, Chief Justice Ray tersely pronounced that the bench was dissolved, and the judges rose.
The 39th Amendment attempted, among other provisions, to legitimize the election of Indira Gandhi in 1971. Article 329A put the elections of the Prime Minister and Lok Sabha Speaker outside the purview of the judiciary and provided for determination of disputes concerning their elections by an authority to be set up by a Parliamentary law. The Supreme Court struck down clauses (4) and (5) of the article 329A, which made the existing election law inapplicable to the Prime Minister's and Speaker's election, and declared the pending proceedings in respect of such elections null and void.
Development.
Constitutional lawyer A. G. Noorani notes that the doctrine has "now spread far and wide beyond its frontiers.", but that the eventual attribution to Dietrich Conrad is absent, who propounded the arguments in a lecture to the law faculty in the Banaras Hindu University. The argument, Noorani narrates made way to M K Nambyar who read the excerpt out in "Golaknath".
The note is that in "Kesavananda Bharati" the dissenting judge, Justic Khanna approved as "substantially correct" the following observations by Prof. Conrad: 
Evolution of the doctrine.
The basic structure doctrine was further clarified in "Minerva Mills v. Union of India". The 42nd Amendment had been enacted by the government of Indira Gandhi in response to the Kesavananda Bharati judgment in an effort to reduce the power of the judicial review of constitutional amendments by the Supreme Court. In the Minerva Mills case, Nanabhoy Palkhivala successfully moved the Supreme Court to declare sections 4 and 55 of the 42nd Amendment as unconstitutional. The constitutionality of sections 4 and 55 of the 42nd Amendment were challenged in this case, when Charan Singh was caretaker Prime Minister. Section 4 of the 42nd Amendment, had amended Article 31C of the Constitution to accord precedence to the Directive Principles of State Policy articulated in Part IV of the Constitution over the Fundamental Rights of individuals articulated in Part III. Section 55 prevented any constitutional amendment from being "called in question in any Court on any ground". It also declared that there would be no limitation whatever on the constituent power of Parliament to amend by way of definition, variation or repeal the provisions of the Constitution. On 31 July 1980, when Indira Gandhi was back in power, the Supreme Court declared sections 4 & 55 of the 42nd amendment as unconstitutional. It further endorsed and evolved the basic structure doctrine of the Constitution. As had been previously held through the basic structure doctrine in the "Kesavananda" case, the Court ruled that Parliament could not by amending the constitution convert limited power into an unlimited power (as it had purported to do by the 42nd amendment).
In the judgement on section 55, Chief Justice Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud wrote, The ruling was widely welcomed in India, and Gandhi did not challenge the verdict. In the judgement on Section 4, Chandrachud wrote:
This latter view of Article 31C was questioned, but not overturned, in "Sanjeev Coke Manufacturing Co v Bharat Cooking Coal Ltd." (case citation: AIR 1983 SC 239). The concept of basic structure has since been developed by the Supreme Court in subsequent cases, such as "Waman Rao v. Union of India" (AIR 1981 SC 271), "Bhim Singhji v. Union of India" (AIR 1981 SC 234), "S.P. Gupta v. President of India" (AIR 1982 SC 149) (known as Transfer of Judges case), "S.P. Sampath Kumar v. Union of India" (AIR 1987 SC 386), "P. Sambamurthy v. State of Andhra Pradesh" (AIR 1987 SC 663), "Kihota Hollohon v. Zachilhu and others" (1992 1 SCC 309)," L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India and others "(AIR 1997 SC 1125), "P. V. Narsimha Rao v. State (CBI/SPE)" (AIR 1998 SC 2120), "I.R. Coelho v. State of Tamil Nadu and others" (2007 2 SCC 1), and "Raja Ram Pal v. The Hon’ble Speaker, Lok Sabha and others" (JT 2007 (2) SC 1) (known as Cash for Query case).
The Supreme Court's position on constitutional amendments laid out in its judgements is that Parliament can amend the Constitution but cannot destroy its "basic structure".
Recognition.
Aside from India, the basic structure doctrine has been adopted in a number of jurisdictions, and rejected in some others.
Bangladesh.
The basic structure doctrine was adopted by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh in 1989, by expressly relying on the reasoning in the Kesavananda case, in its ruling on "Anwar Hossain Chowdhary v. Bangladesh" (41 DLR 1989 App. Div. 165, 1989 BLD (Spl.) 1).
Belize.
The basic structure doctrine was invoked by the Supreme Court of Judicature of Belize in "Bowen v Attorney General BZ 2009 SC 2" in rejecting the Belize Constitution (Sixth Amendment) Bill 2008, which had sought to exclude certain deprivation of property rights from judicial review. The court recognised the fundamental rights granted by the constitution, respect for the rule of law and the right to the ownership of private property as basic features of the Belizean constitution, as well as the separation of powers, which Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh noted had been recognised by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in "Hinds v The Queen [1977] AC 195" (which was not a constitutional amendment case) as implicit in Westminster model constitutions in the Caribbean Commonwealth realm.
The Supreme Court affirmed the doctrine in "British Caribbean Bank Ltd v AG Belize Claim No. 597 of 2011" and struck down parts of the Belize Telecommunications (Amendment) Act 2011 and Belize Constitution (Eighth) Amendment Act 2011. The amendments had sought to preclude the court from deciding on whether deprivation of property by the government was for a public purpose, and to remove any limits on the National Assembly's power to alter the constitution. This was found to impinge on the separation of powers, which had earlier been identified as part of the basic structure of the Belizean constitution. On appeal, the Court of Appeal reinstated the amendments and rejected the basic structure doctrine, ruling that it does not apply to Belize.
Malaysia.
In Malaysia, the basic features doctrine was initially found to be inapplicable by the Federal Court in "Phang Chin Hock v. Public Prosecutor". The Court remarked that the Indian constitution was drafted by a constituent assembly representative of the Indian people in territorial, racial and community terms, and not "ordinary mortals", while the same could not be said for the Malaysian constitution, which was enacted by an ordinary legislature.
The basic structure doctrine was first cited with approval by the Federal Court in "obiter dicta" in "Sivarasa Rasiah v. Badan Peguam Malaysia", before ultimately being applied by the same court in "Semenyih Jaya Sdn Bhd v. Pentadbir Tanah Daerah Hulu Langat & Ano'r Case" and "Indira Gandhi a/p Mutho v. Pengarah Jabatan Agama Islam Perak & 2 O'rs & 2 Other Cases". In those cases, the Federal Court held that the vesting of the judicial power of the Federation in the civil courts formed part of the basic structure of the Constitution, and could not be removed even by constitutional amendment.
Pakistan.
The basic structure doctrine was recognised in "Constitution Petition No.12 of 2010, etc." by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2015. The case was heard by the full 17-member bench, of which a plurality of 8 accepted the basic structure doctrine as a basis for limiting the ability of the Parliament of Pakistan to amend the Constitution, 4 rejected the premise of such limitations, describing the basic structure doctrine as a "vehicle for judicial aggrandisement of power", and 5 accepted that some limitations exist but did not endorse the basic structure doctrine. The judgement identified democracy, federalism and independence of the judiciary as among the characteristics protected by the doctrine.
Before this decision, it was unclear whether the basic structure doctrine applied in Pakistan. The doctrine was considered and rejected shortly after the "Kesavananda" decision, revived in 1997, and rejected again in 1998. The 2015 decision addressed the issue directly and accepted the doctrine.
Singapore.
The High Court of Singapore denied the application of the basic features doctrine in Singapore in "Teo Soh Lung v. Minister for Home Affairs". Justice Frederick Arthur Chua held that the doctrine was not applicable to the Singapore Constitution: "Considering the differences in the making of the Indian and our Constitution, it cannot be said that our Parliament's power to amend our Constitution is limited in the same way as the Indian Parliament's power to amend the Indian Constitution."
Uganda.
In December 2017, the Ugandan parliament passed a Constitutional Amendment which removed age limit of 75 years for the President and Chairpersons of the Local Council. The President Yoweri Museveni, who has been President of Uganda since 1986, signed the amendment into law in January 2018, aged '74 years' (Evidence is available that the dictator is in his late 80's). Several opposition leaders and the Uganda Law Society, challenged the constitutionality of the amendment before the Constitutional Court, which (majority) upheld the validity of the amendment. Taking note of the judgments in "Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala," AIR 1973 SC and "Minerva Mills v. Union of India," AIR 1980 SC 1789, the Supreme Court of Uganda in "Mabirizi Kiwanuka & ors. v. Attorney General", [2019] UGSC 6, unanimously upheld the Constitutional Court (majority) finding.
Bibliography.
Write for us law