Ritesh Bishnoi & Bibhab Nayak, SLFJPS (NFSU, Gandhinagar)
The Golaknath V. State of Punjab (1967 AIR 1643, 1967 SCR (2) 762) is one of the landmark judgments in the history of India that deals with the Power of Indian Constitutional Law. Herein, the Supreme Court of India very precisely examined the power of Parliament(Sovereign) to amend the fundamental rights and the meaning of “Law” in article 13(2) of the Indian Constitution.
Background Facts of the Case:
It was filed in 1965, by Henry Golakh Nath (deceased) and his family members, who were in possession of approx.500 acres of land in Punjab at that time.
Everything was well and fine until the State Government Invoked the Punjab Security and Land Tenures Act, of 1953, which limited the amount of land the family could keep and declared the rest as a surplus. The Act was placed in the Ninth Schedule by the Constitution (Seventeenth Amendment) Act, of 1964.
According to the Act, a person is only permitted to own 30 Standard Acres (or 60 Common Acres) of land. As a result, the Golaknath family was told to give up the extra land and was only allowed to retain 30 acres of the total land.
