Twenty-Fourth Amendment Act, 1971

• Affirmed the power of Parliament to amend any part of the Constitution including fundamental rights.
• Made it compulsory for the president to give his assent to a Constitutional Amendment Bill.

 NOTE:

• It was introduced to amend article 368 suitably for the purpose and made it clear that article 368 provides for amendment of the Constitution as well as procedure therefore.
• It was also introduced to amend article 13 of the Constitution to make it inapplicable to any amendment of the Constitution under article 368

Background

• The Supreme Court in the well-known Golak Nath’s case [1967] reversed, by a narrow majority, its own earlier decisions upholding the power of Parliament to amend all parts of the Constitution including Part III relating to fundamental rights.
• The result of Golak Nath’s case was that Parliament was considered to have no power to take away or curtail any of the fundamental rights guaranteed by Part III of the Constitution even if it becomes necessary to do so for giving effect to the Directive Principles of State Policy and for the attainment of the objectives set out in the Preamble to the Constitution.