Legal Provisions Related to the Ninth Schedule

Specific articles within the Indian Constitution that relate to the origin and functioning of the Ninth Schedule. These articles are as follows:

• Article 31B: Article 31B forms the basis of the Ninth Schedule. It grants the legislature the power to include certain laws in the Ninth Schedule through constitutional amendments. These laws, once included, are protected from judicial review, ensuring their validity even if they appear to violate fundamental rights. Article 31B also has retrospective application, i.e., if law is added into the Ninth Schedule after it has been declared unconstitutional, it will be regarded as a part of the Schedule since its origin and thus valid.

• Article 31A: It safeguards laws that were implemented to abolish the intermediaries in land ownership, redistributing land from landlords to tillers. These laws were considered crucial for socio-economic development.
• Judicial Interpretations:

1. Keshavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973): The Supreme Court ruled that the court has the authority to declare any law unconstitutional if it undermines the “Basic structure of the Indian Constitution.”
2. Waman Rao v. Union of India (1981): The Supreme Court ruled that amendments made to the Ninth Schedule after the 24th of April, 1973, are subject to challenge based on their constitutionality.
3. I R Coelho v. State of Tamil Nadu (2007): The court ruled that laws introduced in the Ninth Schedule after the 24th of April, 1973, need to undergo judicial scrutiny under Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution. In addition, the court emphasized that any legislation conflicting with the basic structure of the constitution is subject to judicial review.

Ninth Schedule of the Indian Constitution contains a list of central and state laws which cannot be challenged in courts. It is a special provision that allows the legislature to exempt certain laws from judicial review by means of Constitutional amendment. The origins, objectives, and implications of the ninth schedule provide an idea about how the balance between protecting certain laws and upholding the rights enshrined in the Constitution is maintained. In this article, we will learn about the Ninth Schedule of judicial review, laws, cases, Legal Provisions, challenges, and FAQs.