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RAS question

In the Kesavananda Bharati case (1973), the Supreme Court propounded which doctrine?

Correct answer: (D) Basic Structure Doctrine.

In Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973), the Supreme Court propounded the Basic Structure Doctrine, limiting Parliament's power to amend the Constitution under Article 368.

  1. (A)

    Doctrine of Severability

  2. (B)

    Doctrine of Eclipse

  3. (C)

    Doctrine of Pleasure

  4. (D)

    Basic Structure Doctrine

Explanation

Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala is the landmark 1973 constitutional case in which a 13-judge bench held, by a 7:6 majority, that Parliament can amend any part of the Constitution under Article 368, but cannot alter its basic structure. The cited Supreme Court judgment confirms that Kesavananda Bharati remains the authority for treating the amendment power as a constituent power under Article 368 that is still impliedly limited by the Constitution's essential features or basic structure. That is why the case is remembered not for creating an unlimited amending power, but for drawing the constitutional boundary Parliament cannot cross.

Why the other options are wrong

  • (A) The Doctrine of Severability is not the doctrine propounded in Kesavananda Bharati; the question is about limits on constitutional amendment, not separating valid and invalid parts of a law.
  • (B) The Doctrine of Eclipse was established earlier and does not explain the Article 368 limit created by the Kesavananda Bharati ruling.
  • (C) The Doctrine of Pleasure is a separate constitutional concept and is not the rule by which Kesavananda Bharati restrained Parliament's amending power.

Concept

This tests the amendment power under Article 368 and the judicially enforced limits on that power. It recurs in RAS because the Basic Structure Doctrine is central to Indian constitutionalism and to questions on Parliament-judiciary relations.

Source

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