RAS question
The Right to Property was removed from the list of Fundamental Rights by which Amendment?
Correct answer: (B) 44th Amendment.
The Right to Property was removed from the list of Fundamental Rights by the Constitution (Forty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1978.
Explanation
The 44th Amendment changed the constitutional status of the Right to Property. Article 31, which dealt with compulsory acquisition of property, was repealed by the Constitution (Forty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1978. The same amendment inserted Article 300A in Part XII, stating that no person shall be deprived of property except by authority of law. That is why property is no longer a Fundamental Right under Part III; it continues as a legal or constitutional right under Article 300A. This change took place during the Janata Party government led by Prime Minister Morarji Desai.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) The repeal of Article 31 and the insertion of Article 300A are linked to the Forty-fourth Amendment, not the 46th Amendment.
- (C) The 43rd Amendment is associated with restoring certain judicial powers curtailed by the 42nd Amendment, not with removing the Right to Property from Part III.
- (D) The 42nd Amendment made major Emergency-era changes, but the property-right provisions identify the 44th Amendment as the one that repealed Article 31 and inserted Article 300A.
Concept
This tests the Fundamental Rights chapter and the post-Emergency constitutional amendments. RAS repeatedly asks it because the shift from Article 31 to Article 300A is a clean way to test the difference between a Fundamental Right and a legal right.