Judiciary, Elections & Political Processes

Why This Chapter Matters

SSC CGL Tier 1 rarely skips this territory. Every year you will see at least two or three questions pulled straight from the judiciary and elections basket — an article number for judicial review, the tenure of an Election Commissioner, the year of the 73rd Amendment, or a landmark case name matched to its outcome. CHSL and MTS papers lean on the same pool. This is high-yield, low-volume content: a few dozen facts, tested again and again in slightly reshuffled form.

The single biggest mistake aspirants make here is treating the Supreme Court, High Courts, and Election Commission as three unrelated blocks to be crammed separately. They are not separate. All three exist to keep the other two organs of government — the legislature and the executive — inside constitutional limits. Once you see them as one connected system of checks, the individual facts (appointment procedure, removal procedure, tenure, jurisdiction) start following a pattern instead of sitting as isolated trivia. The second trap: confusing the 73rd Amendment (rural, Panchayati Raj) with the 74th Amendment (urban, municipalities). Examiners love swapping these two in options. Fix that distinction early and you will not lose easy marks later.

The Supreme Court of India

The Supreme Court sits at the top of India's single, integrated judicial system. Unlike the United States, India does not run separate state and central court systems — one judiciary interprets both central and state laws, and the Supreme Court is its final word.

Article 124 of the Constitution establishes the Supreme Court. It began work on 26 January 1950, the same day the Constitution came into force, replacing the Federal Court of India that had existed since 1937.

Composition and appointment

The Supreme Court originally had a Chief Justice and 7 other judges. Parliament has increased this figure several times through law, and the sanctioned strength today stands at 34 judges (1 Chief Justice + 33 other judges), fixed by the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 2019.

Judges are appointed by the President, in practice following the recommendation of the Collegium — a group led by the Chief Justice of India along with the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court. This Collegium system is not written word-for-word in the Constitution; it emerged from a series of Supreme Court judgments, most importantly the "Judges Cases" of 1981, 1993, and 1998 (the Third Judges Case fixed the current form).

Exam trap: Students often assume the Collegium is a constitutional body created by an amendment. It is a judge-made mechanism, born out of interpretation of Article 124 and Article 217, not a separate constitutional article.

Qualifications, tenure and removal

To become a Supreme Court judge, a person must be a citizen of India and either:

• a High Court judge for at least 5 years, or
• an advocate in a High Court for at least 10 years, or
• in the President's opinion, a distinguished jurist.

A Supreme Court judge holds office until the age of 65 years. There is no fixed term of years — only an age-based retirement, unlike some countries with fixed judicial terms.

Removal happens through impeachment: a motion needs a special majority in both Houses of Parliament (majority of total membership plus two-thirds of members present and voting), on grounds of "proved misbehaviour or incapacity," following an inquiry under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968. This has never successfully removed a sitting Supreme Court or High Court judge in India's history, though motions have been initiated — the impeachment motion against Justice V. Ramaswami in 1993 fell short of the required majority.

Memory hook: Think of "COIN" for removal grounds — misbehaviour or incapacity, proved, before both houses, needing special majority.

Jurisdiction

The Supreme Court's power splits into four broad baskets, and SSC loves testing which basket a given power falls into.

Original jurisdiction (Article 131): Disputes directly between the Centre and states, or between states themselves, come straight to the Supreme Court as the court of first instance. No other court can hear these.

Appellate jurisdiction: The Court hears appeals from High Courts in constitutional, civil, and criminal matters. This is its largest workload by volume.

Advisory jurisdiction (Article 143): The President can refer a question of law or public importance to the Supreme Court for its opinion. This opinion is advisory, not binding — the government can, in theory, ignore it, though this rarely happens in practice. The Kerala Education Bill reference (1958) and the Ram Janmabhoomi reference (1993) are classic examples asked in exams.

Writ jurisdiction (Article 32): The Supreme Court can issue five kinds of writs to enforce Fundamental Rights — habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari, and quo warranto. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar called Article 32 "the heart and soul" of the Constitution, because without a remedy, a right is just a promise on paper.

Think of a writ like a referee's whistle in a football match. Habeas corpus stops an illegal detention cold ("produce the body"). Mandamus orders an official to do a duty they are dodging. Prohibition stops a lower court from overstepping. Certiorari quashes an order already passed wrongly. Quo warranto challenges someone's right to hold a public office they may not be entitled to. Five different fouls, five different whistle-blows.

Exam trap: Article 32 (Supreme Court's writ power) and Article 226 (High Court's writ power) are frequently confused. Article 226 is actually wider than Article 32 — High Courts can issue writs for enforcement of Fundamental Rights AND for any other legal right, while the Supreme Court under Article 32 is limited to Fundamental Rights alone.

Judicial Review and the Basic Structure Doctrine

Judicial review is the power of courts to examine whether laws, executive orders, and constitutional amendments comply with the Constitution, and to strike down anything that does not. It flows from Articles 13, 32, 131-136, 143, 226, and 246, taken together, rather than from one single article that names it outright.

The most consequential judgment in this space is Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973), a 13-judge bench decision — the largest ever assembled by the Supreme Court. It held that Parliament can amend any part of the Constitution, including Fundamental Rights, under Article 368, but it cannot alter the Constitution's "basic structure." What counts as basic structure was left open-ended by the Court and has since been filled in through later cases: federalism, secularism, judicial review itself, free and fair elections, separation of powers, and the rule of law, among others.

Memory hook: Kesavananda Bharati = the "Constitution's constitution." Parliament can rewrite chapters, not the plot.

Two other landmark judgments deserve a firm place in your memory:

Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978) widened Article 21 (Right to Life and Personal Liberty). Before this case, "procedure established by law" under Article 21 meant any procedure enacted by a valid law, however unfair. After Maneka Gandhi, the Court read in a requirement that such a procedure must also be fair, just, and reasonable — effectively importing an American-style "due process" flavour into Indian law without amending the text.

Minerva Mills v. Union of India (1980) struck down parts of the 42nd Amendment that tried to give Directive Principles unconditional priority over Fundamental Rights, reaffirming that a balance between the two is itself part of the basic structure.

Public Interest Litigation (PIL)

PIL allows any public-spirited citizen, or even the Court itself acting on a newspaper report or a postcard, to approach the judiciary on behalf of people who cannot approach it themselves — bonded labourers, undertrial prisoners, slum dwellers. This departs from the ordinary rule that only an aggrieved party can file a case (called "locus standi").

Justices P.N. Bhagwati and V.R. Krishna Iyer are widely credited as the judges who built up PIL through the late 1970s and 1980s, using cases like Hussainara Khatoon v. State of Bihar (1979), which exposed the plight of undertrial prisoners kept in jail longer than their maximum possible sentence.

Exam trap: PIL is not a separate article of the Constitution. It is a judicial innovation built on top of Article 32 and Article 226, using a relaxed reading of who counts as an "aggrieved person."

High Courts

Article 214 provides that every state shall have a High Court, though Parliament can also establish a common High Court for two or more states — Punjab and Haryana share one, based in Chandigarh, and the seven north-eastern states largely rely on the Gauhati High Court through benches, though several have since gained their own.

The Calcutta High Court, established in 1862, is the oldest High Court in India, followed closely by Bombay and Madras, all three set up under the Indian High Courts Act, 1861 — well before independence.

A High Court judge retires at 62 years, three years earlier than a Supreme Court judge. This gap between 62 and 65 is a favourite one-mark question.

High Courts exercise original, appellate, and writ jurisdiction, and importantly, supervise all courts and tribunals within their territory under Article 227. Their writ jurisdiction under Article 226 is broader in scope than the Supreme Court's, as already noted, though a High Court's writs only run within its own territorial limits, while the Supreme Court's Article 32 writs apply across the whole country.

Memory hook: "62 before 65" — High Court judges retire younger than Supreme Court judges, and a High Court judge who is elevated to the Supreme Court effectively gets three extra years of tenure ceiling.

The Election Commission of India

Democracy needs a referee who is not also a player. That referee, for India, is the Election Commission of India (ECI), established under Article 324.

Structure

The ECI conducts elections to Parliament, state legislatures, and the offices of President and Vice-President. It does not conduct panchayat and municipal elections — those fall under separate State Election Commissions, created under Articles 243K and 243ZA. This split is a frequently tested distinction.

The Commission began in 1950 as a single-member body. It became a three-member body from October 1989 onward (with a brief reversal), and has functioned as a multi-member body — one Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and two Election Commissioners (ECs) — on a stable basis since 1993. All decisions within the Commission are taken by majority vote among the three, not by the CEC alone, a point examiners like to probe because it corrects the common assumption that the CEC has a dominant or veto vote.

Exam trap: Many students assume the CEC can override the two Election Commissioners. In practice, the ECI works on a one-person-one-vote, majority-rule basis among its three members.

Appointment and tenure

The President appoints the CEC and ECs. The Election Commissioners (and CEC) Act, 2023 now governs the appointment process — a committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha (or the leader of the largest opposition party if there is no recognised Leader of Opposition), and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister makes the recommendation to the President. This replaced the earlier practice, following a 2023 Supreme Court direction in Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India, that had briefly included the Chief Justice of India in the selection panel.

The CEC and ECs hold office for six years, or until the age of 65, whichever comes earlier. The CEC can only be removed in the same manner as a Supreme Court judge (impeachment-style process), which insulates the position from executive pressure. The other Election Commissioners, however, can be removed by the President on the CEC's recommendation — a smaller safeguard, but a real distinction from the CEC's own protection.

Memory hook: "Six or sixty-five, whichever is nearer" for tenure; "impeachment shield" applies fully only to the CEC.

Powers and functions

Article 324 gives the ECI superintendence, direction, and control over the preparation of electoral rolls and the conduct of elections. In practice its toolkit includes:

• Delimitation of constituencies (in coordination with the separate Delimitation Commission)
• Preparation and periodic revision of electoral rolls
• Recognition of political parties and allotment of election symbols
• Enforcing the Model Code of Conduct during election periods — a set of guidelines, not law in the strict sense, that governs the behaviour of parties and candidates once elections are announced
• Regulating campaign finance disclosure through candidate expenditure limits
• Countermanding a poll (cancelling and rescheduling it) in cases of booth capturing or serious malpractice

Voting age in India is 18 years, lowered from 21 by the 61st Constitutional Amendment, 1988. EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) were first used experimentally in the 1980s and became the standard mode of voting nationwide by 2004; VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail) slips were added later to give a paper-based confirmation that a vote registered correctly.

Real-world grounding: Every time you have seen election-time news about candidates being told to remove posters, or a minister avoiding new scheme announcements right before polling, that is the Model Code of Conduct at work — an unwritten discipline that the ECI enforces through moral and administrative authority rather than a standalone statute.

Panchayati Raj — Rural Local Governance

Local self-government in villages existed informally for centuries, but its modern constitutional shape came from the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992, which added Part IX (Articles 243 to 243-O) and the Eleventh Schedule (29 subjects) to the Constitution. It came into force on 24 April 1993 — a date now observed as National Panchayati Raj Day.

The three-tier structure

The 73rd Amendment mandates a uniform three-tier structure across states (with an exception for states with a population below 20 lakh, which may skip the middle tier):

1. Gram Panchayat — village level
2. Panchayat Samiti (or Block/Mandal/Taluk Panchayat) — intermediate/block level
3. Zila Parishad — district level

Memory hook: "Village, Block, District" — think of a school hierarchy: class, house, and whole school. Small unit up to the biggest unit.

Key structural features every aspirant must lock in:

• Direct election of members at all three levels, held every 5 years by the State Election Commission, not the ECI.
• Reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their population, and not less than one-third reservation for women in total seats, including in the chairperson positions.
• Gram Sabha — a body of all registered voters in a village, distinct from the Gram Panchayat, which is the elected executive committee. The Gram Sabha is the foundation of grassroots democracy; it meets to discuss local plans and hold the Panchayat accountable.
• State Finance Commission, constituted every 5 years by the Governor, to recommend the distribution of funds between the state and the panchayats.
• If a Panchayat is dissolved before its term ends, fresh elections must be held within 6 months.

Exam trap: Do not confuse the Gram Sabha (all voters of the village, a deliberative body) with the Gram Panchayat (the elected representatives, an executive body). SSC has tested this distinction repeatedly by swapping the two definitions in answer options.

Certain scheduled and tribal areas were originally excluded from the 73rd Amendment's direct application. Parliament extended panchayat provisions to these areas through the PESA Act, 1996 (Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act), which gives Gram Sabhas in these regions greater control over local natural resources, land, and minor forest produce — a subject worth remembering as a standalone fact, since PESA questions appear independently too.

Urban Local Bodies

The rural amendment's urban twin is the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992, which added Part IXA (Articles 243P to 243ZG) and the Twelfth Schedule (18 subjects) to the Constitution, also effective from 1 June 1993.

Three types of urban bodies

The 74th Amendment creates a three-way classification based on the size and nature of the urban area, not a strict hierarchy like the rural three tiers:

1. Nagar Panchayat — for an area transitioning from rural to urban (a "transitional area")
2. Municipal Council (Municipality) — for a smaller urban area
3. Municipal Corporation — for a larger urban area, typically a big city

Memory hook: Picture urban growth like a small shop growing into a supermarket chain — Nagar Panchayat (a corner shop just opening in a growing town), Municipal Council (a mid-size store), Municipal Corporation (a full supermarket chain running a big city).

The 74th Amendment also introduced two planning bodies worth remembering separately:

• District Planning Committee (DPC) — consolidates plans made by panchayats and municipalities within a district into one development plan.
• Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC) — does the same job specifically for metropolitan areas with a population of 10 lakh or more.

Like panchayats, urban local bodies also have mandatory reservation for SCs, STs, and women (not less than one-third), direct election every 5 years supervised by the State Election Commission, and a State Finance Commission that also covers them.

Exam trap: The Eleventh Schedule (29 subjects, panchayats) and Twelfth Schedule (18 subjects, municipalities) are commonly swapped in questions. Remember: 11th goes with rural (Panchayati Raj), 12th goes with urban (municipalities) — alphabetically, "Eleven" comes before "Twelve," just as rural governance (73rd Amendment) came before urban governance (74th Amendment) in the amendment numbering too.

Important Constitutional Amendments — A Quick Overview

You are not expected to memorise all 100-plus amendments, but a handful come back year after year in SSC papers. Treat the table in the Memory Tables section below as your master list, and note these standout entries in prose because they carry conceptual weight beyond a bare date:

The 42nd Amendment (1976), passed during the Emergency, is nicknamed the "Mini-Constitution" because of its sheer scope — it added the words "Socialist," "Secular," and "Integrity" to the Preamble, added Fundamental Duties (Part IVA, Article 51A), and attempted to curtail judicial review, a move later corrected substantially by the 44th Amendment (1978) and struck down in part by the Minerva Mills judgment discussed earlier.

The 44th Amendment (1978) restored several protections diluted by the 42nd Amendment and, importantly, removed the Right to Property from the list of Fundamental Rights, converting it into a mere legal right under Article 300A instead.

The 86th Amendment (2002) made education a Fundamental Right for children aged 6 to 14 years, inserting Article 21A, later given practical shape through the Right to Education Act, 2009.

The 101st Amendment (2016) introduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST), unifying India's indirect tax structure — this one bridges directly into your economy chapter, so keep the number 101 firmly attached to GST in your mind.

The 103rd Amendment (2019) introduced 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in education and public employment, based on economic criteria rather than caste or tribe.

Quick Revision — One-Line Facts

• Supreme Court established under Article 124, functioning since 26 January 1950.
• Sanctioned Supreme Court strength: 1 Chief Justice + 33 judges = 34.
• Supreme Court judges retire at 65; High Court judges retire at 62.
• Collegium system is judge-made, not a written constitutional provision.
• Article 131 gives the Supreme Court original jurisdiction over Centre-state and inter-state disputes.
• Article 143 gives the Supreme Court advisory jurisdiction; its opinion is not binding.
• Article 32 (Supreme Court writs) covers only Fundamental Rights; Article 226 (High Court writs) is broader.
• Five writs: habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari, quo warranto.
• Dr. B.R. Ambedkar called Article 32 the "heart and soul" of the Constitution.
• Kesavananda Bharati case (1973) established the Basic Structure doctrine, decided by a 13-judge bench.
• Maneka Gandhi case (1978) widened Article 21 to require fair, just, and reasonable procedure.
• Minerva Mills case (1980) held that balance between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles is part of the basic structure.
• PIL relaxed the "locus standi" rule, allowing public-spirited persons to approach courts for others.
• Justices P.N. Bhagwati and V.R. Krishna Iyer are closely linked with the growth of PIL.
• Calcutta High Court (1862) is India's oldest High Court.
• Article 214 provides for a High Court in every state; Parliament can create common High Courts.
• ECI established under Article 324; conducts Parliament, state legislature, President and Vice-President elections.
• Panchayat and municipal elections are conducted by separate State Election Commissions, not the ECI.
• ECI became a three-member body on a stable basis from 1993.
• CEC and ECs hold office for 6 years or till age 65, whichever is earlier.
• Election Commissioners (and CEC) Act, 2023 governs the current appointment process.
• Only the CEC has full impeachment-style protection from removal; other ECs can be removed on the CEC's recommendation.
• Voting age lowered from 21 to 18 by the 61st Amendment, 1988.
• 73rd Amendment (1992) added Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule; in force from 24 April 1993.
• Three-tier Panchayati Raj: Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti, Zila Parishad.
• Not less than one-third seats reserved for women in panchayats and municipalities.
• Gram Sabha is the body of all registered voters; Gram Panchayat is the elected executive body.
• PESA Act, 1996 extends panchayat provisions to Scheduled Areas with special Gram Sabha powers.
• 74th Amendment (1992) added Part IXA and the Twelfth Schedule; in force from 1 June 1993.
• Three urban local body types: Nagar Panchayat, Municipal Council, Municipal Corporation.
• District Planning Committee consolidates rural and urban plans at district level; Metropolitan Planning Committee does so for cities with population 10 lakh plus.
• 42nd Amendment (1976) is called the "Mini-Constitution."
• 44th Amendment (1978) removed the Right to Property from Fundamental Rights.
• 86th Amendment (2002) inserted Article 21A, making education a Fundamental Right for ages 6-14.
• 101st Amendment (2016) introduced GST.
• 103rd Amendment (2019) introduced 10% EWS reservation.

Memory Tables

Table 1: Judiciary at a Glance

Feature	Supreme Court	High Court
Constitutional Article	Article 124	Article 214
Retirement age	65 years	62 years
Writ jurisdiction	Article 32 (Fundamental Rights only)	Article 226 (Fundamental Rights + other legal rights)
Territorial reach of writs	All of India	Within the state/territory
Oldest example	—	Calcutta (1862)
Removal process	Impeachment (special majority, both Houses)	Same as Supreme Court judge

Table 2: 73rd vs 74th Amendment

Feature	73rd Amendment (Panchayati Raj)	74th Amendment (Urban Bodies)
Year passed	1992	1992
In force from	24 April 1993	1 June 1993
Constitution Part added	Part IX	Part IXA
Schedule added	Eleventh Schedule (29 subjects)	Twelfth Schedule (18 subjects)
Structure	3-tier: Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti, Zila Parishad	Nagar Panchayat, Municipal Council, Municipal Corporation
Deliberative body	Gram Sabha	Ward Committee (in larger areas)
Planning body	—	District Planning Committee, Metropolitan Planning Committee

Table 3: Key Amendments to Remember

Amendment	Year	Key change
42nd	1976	"Mini-Constitution"; added Socialist, Secular, Integrity to Preamble; added Fundamental Duties
44th	1978	Removed Right to Property from Fundamental Rights (made it a legal right, Article 300A)
61st	1988	Lowered voting age from 21 to 18
73rd	1992	Panchayati Raj given constitutional status
74th	1992	Urban local bodies given constitutional status
86th	2002	Right to Education, Article 21A
101st	2016	Goods and Services Tax (GST)
103rd	2019	10% EWS reservation

Practice MCQs

Q1. Under which Article of the Constitution was the Supreme Court of India established? (a) Article 32 (b) Article 124 (c) Article 214 (d) Article 226

Q2. At what age does a judge of the Supreme Court of India retire? (a) 60 years (b) 62 years (c) 65 years (d) 70 years

Q3. Which case is most closely associated with the origin of the "Basic Structure" doctrine? (a) Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (b) Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (c) Minerva Mills v. Union of India (d) Golaknath v. State of Punjab

Q4. The writ jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, limited to Fundamental Rights, is granted under which Article? (a) Article 32 (b) Article 226 (c) Article 245 (d) Article 356

Q5. Which writ is issued to challenge a person's right to hold a public office? (a) Habeas corpus (b) Mandamus (c) Certiorari (d) Quo warranto

Q6. The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act deals primarily with: (a) Urban local bodies (b) Panchayati Raj institutions (c) Judicial reforms (d) Election Commission powers

Q7. How many subjects are listed in the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution? (a) 18 (b) 22 (c) 29 (d) 31

Q8. Elections to Gram Panchayats and Municipalities are conducted by: (a) Election Commission of India (b) State Election Commission (c) State Government directly (d) District Collector

Q9. Which body consists of all registered voters residing within the area of a Gram Panchayat? (a) Zila Parishad (b) Panchayat Samiti (c) Gram Sabha (d) District Planning Committee

Q10. What is the minimum percentage of seats reserved for women in Panchayati Raj institutions as per the 73rd Amendment? (a) 25% (b) 33% (c) 40% (d) 50%

Q11. The Election Commission of India functions as a multi-member body (Chief Election Commissioner plus two Election Commissioners) on a stable basis since which year? (a) 1950 (b) 1989 (c) 1993 (d) 2004

Q12. Which Constitutional Amendment reduced the voting age in India from 21 to 18 years? (a) 44th Amendment (b) 52nd Amendment (c) 61st Amendment (d) 73rd Amendment

Q13. Which of the following is the oldest High Court in India? (a) Bombay High Court (b) Madras High Court (c) Calcutta High Court (d) Allahabad High Court

Q14. The Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978) judgment significantly expanded the scope of which Article? (a) Article 14 (b) Article 19 (c) Article 21 (d) Article 32

Q15. Which Constitutional Amendment is popularly referred to as the "Mini-Constitution" due to the scale of changes it introduced? (a) 24th Amendment (b) 42nd Amendment (c) 44th Amendment (d) 52nd Amendment

Answer Key

Q	Answer	Reason
1	(b)	Article 124 establishes the Supreme Court; Article 214 does the same for High Courts, a pair students often mix up.
2	(c)	Supreme Court judges retire at 65; remembering the "62 before 65" gap with High Court judges avoids confusion.
3	(b)	The 13-judge bench in Kesavananda Bharati (1973) held Parliament cannot alter the Constitution's basic structure.
4	(a)	Article 32 is the Supreme Court's writ power, limited to Fundamental Rights, unlike the broader Article 226.
5	(d)	Quo warranto questions the legal authority behind a person occupying a public office.
6	(b)	The 73rd Amendment (1992) constitutionalised Panchayati Raj through Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule.
7	(c)	The Eleventh Schedule lists 29 subjects for panchayats; the Twelfth Schedule lists 18 for municipalities.
8	(b)	State Election Commissions, created under Articles 243K and 243ZA, conduct local body elections, not the ECI.
9	(c)	The Gram Sabha is the full body of registered voters, distinct from the elected Gram Panchayat.
10	(b)	The 73rd Amendment mandates not less than one-third (33%) reservation for women in panchayat seats.
11	(c)	Although a third member was briefly added in 1989, the stable three-member ECI structure dates from 1993.
12	(c)	The 61st Amendment, 1988, lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 years.
13	(c)	Calcutta High Court, established in 1862, is the oldest of the three original High Courts.
14	(c)	Maneka Gandhi's case required procedure under Article 21 to be fair, just, and reasonable, not merely enacted by law.
15	(b)	The 42nd Amendment (1976) made such sweeping changes, including to the Preamble and judicial review, that it earned the nickname "Mini-Constitution."