New Delhi

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court reaffirmed that Article 31C of the Constitution, as upheld in the famous Keshavananda Bharati case, remains effective. A seven-judge Constitution Bench reviewed several past judgments and determined that the first part of the unamended Article 31C is constitutional and continues to apply.

The justices, including Hrishikesh Roy, BV Nagarathna, Sudhanshu Dhulia, JB Pardiwala, Manoj Misra, Rajesh Bindal, SC Sharma, and AG Masih, considered whether the phrase material resources of the community in Article 39(b) encompasses privately owned property. They also examined whether laws aimed at redistributing these resources for the common good could be exempt from legal challenges based on fundamental rights violations.

The majority opinion stated that not all privately owned resources qualify as material resources of the community, emphasizing that the evaluation should be specific to each case. While Justice Nagarathna presented a separate but partially agreeing view, Justice Dhulia issued a dissenting opinion.

Article 39(b), part of the Directive Principles of State Policy, mandates equitable distribution of the community’s material resources to support collective welfare rather than allowing them to be concentrated among a few individuals. This principle aims to promote economic growth and social justice for the greater good.