Ninth Schedule

Why in news?

• Recently, the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister wrote to the Prime Minister seeking the inclusion of two amendment Bills allowing for a higher quota of reservation in jobs and educational institutions, in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.

More about the News:

• In Chhattisgarh, the State Assembly unanimously approved the two amendment bills, creating a 76% quota for members of the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes.
• The Ninth Schedule of the Constitution includes a list of Central and State laws that cannot be challenged in courts. Including the two amendment Bills in the Ninth Schedule would make them immune to legal challenges.
• Previously, the Chhattisgarh High Court had struck down a government order allowing 58% quota, stating that the reservation cannot exceed 50% as it unconstitutional.
• However, two amendment Bills were passed by the State Assembly to provide 76% quota for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes.

About Ninth Schedule of Constitution

• The Schedule contains a list of central and state laws which cannot be challenged in courts and was added by the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951.
• The first Amendment added 13 laws to the Schedule. Subsequent amendments in various years have taken the number of protected laws to 284 currently.
• It was created by the new Article 31B, which along with Article 31A was brought in by the government to protect laws related to agrarian reform and for abolishing the Zamindari system.
• While Article 31A extends protection to ‘classes’ of laws, Article 31B shields specific laws or enactments.
• While most of the laws protected under the Schedule concern agriculture/land issues, the list includes other subjects.
• Article 31B also has a retrospective operation which means that if laws are inserted in the Ninth Schedule after they are declared unconstitutional, they are considered to have been in the Schedule since their commencement, and thus valid.

No blanket immunity:

• In a significant judgement delivered in I.R. Coelho case (2007), the Supreme Court ruled that there could not be any blanket immunity from judicial review of laws included in the Ninth Schedule.
• The court held that judicial review is a ‘basic feature’ of the constitution and it could not be taken away by putting a law under the Ninth Schedule. It said that the laws placed under the Ninth Schedule after April 24, 1973, are open to challenge in court if they violated fundamentals rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21 or the ‘basic structure’ of the constitution.
• It was on April 24, 1973, that the Supreme Court first propounded the doctrine of ‘basic structure’ or ‘basic features’ of the constitution in its landmark verdict in the Kesavananda Bharati Case

PRACTICE QUESTION

Consider the following statements:

1. Laws placed under the Ninth Schedule are open to challenge in court if they violated fundamentals rights

2. Ninth Schedule contains list of both central and state laws

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer