Analyze the legal implications of the Ninth Schedule of the Indian Constitution: 1. Acts and regulations included in the Ninth Schedule are completely immune from judicial review under any circumstances. 2. A nine-judge Constitution Bench in the I.R. Coelho case held that laws placed in the Ninth Schedule after April 24, 1973, are open to challenge if they violate the basic structure of the Constitution. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

💡 Solution & Explanation

Statement 1 is incorrect because the Supreme Court in the landmark I.R. Coelho versus State of Tamil Nadu case ruled that laws inserted into the Ninth Schedule after the Kesavananda Bharati judgment date of April 24, 1973, are subject to judicial review and can be struck down if they infringe upon the basic structure of the Constitution. Statement 2 is correct as it accurately reflects the ruling of that nine-judge bench. The Ninth Schedule was originally added by the First Amendment Act of 1951 to protect land reform laws from judicial scrutiny. Judicial review remains an unalterable component of the constitutional framework.