Court caseAIR 1980 SC 1789

The owners of a nationalised textile mill challenged the nationalisation and, with it, clauses (4) and (5) of Article 368 and the expanded Article 31C, inserted by the 42nd Amendment, which barred any challenge to constitutional amendments and gave all directive principles primacy over Articles 14 and 19.

The court struck down clauses (4) and (5) of Article 368: a limited amending power is itself part of the basic structure, and Parliament cannot enlarge it into an absolute one or exclude judicial review. The majority also struck down the widened Article 31C, holding that the harmony and balance between fundamental rights and directive principles is a basic feature; Bhagwati J dissented on this point.