Question 30 from UPSC CSE 2019 - Polity & Governance

Question

Consider the following statements:
1. The 44th Amendment to the Constitution of India introduced an Article placing the election of the Prime Minister beyond judicial review.
2. The Supreme Court of India struck down the 99th Amendment to the Constitution of India as being violative of the independence of judiciary.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

IASCODEX · Accepted Answer

Correct Option: B. 2 only

Strategy: Identify the amendments and their outcomes. The first statement focuses on the 44th Amendment; recalling key amendments, the 39th, not the 44th, dealt with judicial review of the Prime Minister's election, so this is incorrect. The second statement references the 99th Amendment and the Supreme Court's landmark judgment on the NJAC; this is known to be true. Thus, only Statement 2 is correct.

Key Info: **44th Amendment Act (1978)**
Enacted to restore rights and liberties eroded during the Emergency. It restored the inviolability of Article 21 and repealed certain provisions of the 42nd Amendment. This amendment did not address the election of the Prime Minister or judicial review of such elections.

**39th Amendment Act (1975)**
Sought to exclude disputes concerning the elections of the President, Vice President, Prime Minister, and Lok Sabha Speaker from judicial review. Such disputes were to be adjudicated only by a body constituted by Parliament.

**99th Constitutional Amendment Act (2014)**
Established the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) to replace the collegium system for appointing and transferring judges to the higher judiciary.
- The NJAC was to include the Chief Justice of India, two senior-most Supreme Court judges, the Union Law Minister, and two eminent persons.
- Critics argued that the inclusion of non-judicial members compromised judicial independence.
- In the 2015 Supreme Court case *Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India*, the Court declared the 99th Amendment and the NJAC Act unconstitutional. The judgment held that they violated the basic structure of the Constitution, specifically the independence of the judiciary.
- The doctrines of separation of powers and judicial independence are integral features of the Indian Constitution, as affirmed in judgments like *Keshavananda Bharati* (1973).

IASCODEX · Answer

Option A: 1 only

IASCODEX · Answer

Option C: Both 1 and 2

IASCODEX · Answer

Option D: Neither 1 nor 2