Article 31A in Constitution of India

 

Article 31A in Constitution of India

31A. Saving of laws providing for acquisition of estates, etc.

[After Article 31 of the Constitution, the following article shall be inserted through Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951]

(1)Notwithstanding anything contained in article 13, no law providing for- [for clause (1), the following clause shall be substituted Constitution (Fourth Amendment) Act, 1955]

(a)the acquisition by the State of any estate or of any rights therein or the extinguishments or modification of any such rights, or

(b)the taking over of the management of any property by the Stale for a limited period either in the public interest or in order to secure the proper management of the property, or

(c)the amalgamation of two or more corporations either in the public interest or in order to secure the proper management of any of the corporations, or

(d)the extinguishment or modification of any rights of managing agents, secretaries and treasurers, managing directors, directors or managers of corporations, or of any voting rights of shareholders thereof, or

(e)the extinguishment or modification of any rights accruing by virtue of any agreement, lease or licence for the purpose of searching for, or winning, any mineral or mineral oil, or the premature termination or cancellation of any such agreement, lease or licence,

shall be deemed to be void on the ground that it is inconsistent with, or takes away or abridges any of the rights conferred byarticle 14 or article 19:Provided that where such law is a law made by the Legislature of a State, the provisions of this article shall not apply thereto unless such law, having been reserved for the consideration of the President, has received his assent:Provided further that where any law makes any provision for the acquisition by the State of any estate and where any land comprised therein is held by a person under his personal cultivation, it shall not be lawful for the State to acquire any portion of such land as is within the ceiling limit applicable to him under any law for the time being in force or any building or structure standing thereon or appurtenant thereto, unless the law relating to the acquisition of such land, building or structure, provides for payment of compensation at a rate which shall not be less than the market value thereof.

(2)In this article,-

(a)the expression "estate", shall, in relation to any local area, have the same meaning as that expression or its local equivalent has in the existing law relating to land tenures in force in that area and shall also include-

(i)any jagir, inam or muafi or other similar grant and in the States of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, any janmam right;

(ii)any land held under ryotwari settlement;

(iii)any land held or let for purposes of agriculture or for purposes ancillary thereto, including waste land, forest land, land for pasture or sites of buildings and other structures occupied by cultivators of land, agricultural labourers and village artisans;

(b)the expression "rights", in relation to an estate, shall include any rights vesting in a proprietor, sub-proprietor, under-proprietor, tenure-holder, raiyat, under-raiyat or other intermediary and any rights or privileges in respect of land revenue.

[Editorial Comment- The Constitution (Fourth Amendment) Act, 1955, The entire Article 31A was realized to be unassailable based on stare decisis, a quietus that should not allow being disturbed. This was declared during the Minerva mills vs Union of India case. The First Amendment in which Article 31A was introduced. While the Fourth Amendment which substituted new clauses to this Article has been held constitutional, in Waman Rao and I R Coelho case. Section 3 of the Constitution (Fourth Amendment) Act, 1955 substituted a new clause (1), sub-clauses (a) to (e) for the original clause (1) with retrospective effect. It does not violate any of the basic or essential features of the Constitution or its basic structure. It was held valid and constitutional within the constituent power of the Parliament of India under the Constitution. ]}}[Editorial Comment-The Constitution (Seventeenth Amendment) Act, 1964, modifies article 31A and schedule 9 of the Indian Constitution. This revision prohibited the acquisition of land used for personal agriculture unless a price equal to the property’s market value was paid. In addition, 44 more Acts were added to the ninth schedule.][Editorial comment-The Constitution (Forty-Fourth Amendment) Act, 1978, repealed Article 19 (1) (f) and also took out Article 31(1) has been taken out of Part III and made a separate Article 300A in Chapter IV of Part XII. This amendment may have taken away the scope of speedy remedy under Article 32 for the violation of Right to Property because it is no more a Fundamental Right. Making it a legal right under the Constitution serves two purposes: Firstly, it gives emphasis to the value of socialism included in the preamble and secondly, in doing so, it conformed to the doctrine of basic structure of the Constitution. Also Refer]