Important Judgements of Supreme Court - UPSC CSE Notes

Important Judgements of Supreme Court - UPSC CSE Notes

A K Gopalan vs. State of Madras (1950) Narrow interpretation of Article 21 The Supreme Court has taken a narrow interpretation of Article 21. It held that the protection under Article 21 is available only against arbitrary executive action and not from arbitrary legislative action. This means that the State can deprive the right to life and personal liberty of a person based on a law. This is because of the expression ‘procedure established by law’ in Article 21, which is different from the expression ‘due process of law’ contained in the American Constitution. Hence, the validity of a law that has prescribed a procedure cannot be questioned on the ground that the law is unreasonable, unfair or unjust. Secondly, the Supreme Court held that the ‘personal liberty’ means only liberty relating to the person or body of the individual. Shankari Prasad v. Union of India (1951) Amendability of Fundamental Rights – Power to amend by Parliament is absolute The constitutional validity of the First Ame…