Political Science · Political Institutions in India
UGC NET June 2019 Political Science
In which case was it declared that the Preamble is not the part of the Constitution?
AKesavananda Bharati case
BManeka Gandhi case
CVishakha case
DBerubari case ✓ Correct
Correct answer: (D) Berubari case — The case in which it was declared that the Preamble is not a part of the Constitution was the Berubari case, which is option (4).
Explanation
★The case in which it was declared that the Preamble is not a part of the Constitution was the Berubari case, which is option (4).
★The case is formally known as the Berubari Union and Exchange of Enclaves reference.
★It arose from a dispute over the transfer of the Berubari Union, under the Nehru Noon Agreement between India and Pakistan.
★The Supreme Court delivered its opinion in 1960.
★The Court held that the Preamble is not a part of the Constitution and does not have the force of law.
★At the same time, it accepted that the Preamble reflects the general purposes behind the constitutional provisions.
★It treated the Preamble as a key to understanding the intentions of the makers of the Constitution.
★This position was later modified in the Kesavananda Bharati case of 1973.
★In Kesavananda Bharati, the Court held that the Preamble is in fact a part of the Constitution.
★It also ruled that the Preamble can be amended without damaging the basic structure of the Constitution.
★The option Kesavananda Bharati is therefore the opposite of the answer, since it treated the Preamble as part of the Constitution.
★The option Maneka Gandhi case is wrong, since it dealt with the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21.
★The option Vishakha case is wrong, since it laid down guidelines against sexual harassment at the workplace.
★So the specific ruling that the Preamble is not part of the Constitution belongs to the 1960 Berubari opinion.
★For NET, fix the Berubari case of 1960 for the view that the Preamble is not part of the Constitution, later revised in Kesavananda Bharati 1973.
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