This article has been written by kumari sheetal , a 4^th year  BALLB student  from SRMS college of law , bareilly mjp rohelkhand university . 

Introduction 

As we all know the emergency was declared in India under prime minister Indira Gandhi for 21 months from 1975 to1977 issued by the president of India fakhruddin ali ahmed under article 352 of Indian constitution . under Indian national congress 42^nd constitution amendment act was passed which had brought several major changes in the constitution decreasing the powers of courts ,state and democratic rights of the people . even the fundamental rights of the people were suspended during the emergency period . after which the constitution 44^th amendment act was passed .

Objects 

The nation has just came out of emergency of 21 month of period . the rights given to people by constitution were taken away by the government as seen in the case of ADM Jabalpur v. shivkant shukla 1976 AIR 1207 where article 21 was suspended and it was held that any writ of habeas corpus will not be applicable in front of court as  article 21 was suspended during emergency . people were not able to go to courts for demanding their rights after  all this it was decided to bring some adequate changes so that no government will misuse the constitutional provisions and another object was  also to make the procedure of amendment strict.

Constitutional policies before forty fourth amendment 

The 42^nd constitution amendment act was passed in 1976 which was the most controversial amendment of Indian constitutional history .this have brought so many changes that it is also known as mini constitution . This amendment was brought during emergency when maximum opposition leaders were in prison . this amendment had lead to decrease in powers of the courts . under this amendment it was held that if parliament brought any amendment in the constitution it cannot be questioned and will  not be applicable for judicial review . many of the powers of the state government transferred to the central government and several other changes were brought in Indian constitution  increasing the powers of the parliament .

The 43^rd constitution amendment act of was passed by the parliament to nullify some distortions introduced by the 42^nd constitution amendment act . it restored the jurisdiction of the supreme court and the high court in respect of judicial review and issue of writs . this amendment deprived the parliament of its special powers to make laws and to deal with anti national activities . 

The 43rd Amendment repealed six articles – 31D, 32A, 131A, 144A, 226A and 228A – that had been inserted into the Constitution by the 42nd Amendment. Articles 145, 228 and 366 were amended to facilitate the omission of these six articles. 

Article 31D had enabled Parliament to legislate on matters concerning “anti-national activities” and “anti-national associations”. Article 32A prohibited the supreme court from considering the constitutional validity of State laws in writ proceedings for the enforcement of Fundamental Rights. Article 226A placed a similar prohibition on High courts  from considering the constitutional validity of Central laws. Article 131A barred High Courts making judgements on the constitutional validity of Central legislation, giving exclusive jurisdiction for such laws to the Supreme Court. 

Article 144A required that the Supreme Court could only declare a Central or State law as unconstitutional if the decision was made by a bench with at least 7 judges, and backed by a special majority of two-thirds of the bench. Article 228A required that a High Court could only declare a State law as unconstitutional if the decision was made by a bench with at least 5 judges, and backed by a special majority of two-thirds of the bench

Constitutional policies after forty fourth amendment 

The constitution (forty –fourth amendment )act 1978 was passed by lok sabha on 7^th December 1978 and by rajya sabha on 31^st august 1978 . the bill for this amendment was titled as the constitution (forty-fourth amendment) bill,1978 bill no. 88 of 1978 which was introduced by shanti bhushan, minister of law,jutice and company affairs  

The following are the changes in constitutional policies after 44^th constitutional amendment act :-

• The procedure for amendment given under article 368 was made tough . if there is question of any change in the basic structure a referendum is required to be passed by majority of votes approved by the people of India and atleast 51 percent of participation of electorate
• Another big change was it was agreed that the fundamental right given under section 20(Article 20 of the Constitution provides for the protection in respect of conviction for offences. No one can be convicted for an act that was not an offence at the time of its commission, and no one can be given punishment greater than what was provided in the law prevalent at the time of its commission. Also, no one can be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once and can be forced to give witness against his or her own self) and 21(No one can be deprived of his or her life or personal liberty except according to the procedure established by law.) can’t be suspended during national emergency 
• The media was given right to freely report parliament and state legislature proceedings freely without censorship   
• Right to property which was a fundamental right under article 31 is made a legal right under article 300A of the Indian constitution 
• Article 257A, which dealt with the power of the central government to deploy its military forces or other union forces to deal with a grave crisis, was removed.
• Three grounds viz. war, external aggression and armed rebellion were made for emergency and it was held that the president can proclaim emergency only when the cabinet gives him written advise 
• New provision was added under clause 1 of article 74 that president to reconsider advise of council of ministers abut reconsideration after president have to take steps accordingly
• The article 21 right to liberty was further strengthened

This amendment added article 38 which is a DPSP stating State to secure a social order for the promotion of welfare of the people

1)The State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may a social order in which justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all the institutions of the national life

2) The State shall, in particular, strive to minimize the inequalities in income, and endeavor to eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities, not only amongst individuals but also amongst groups of people residing in different areas or engaged in different vocations

•  This amendment has amended Article 226  to restore the High Courts  power to issue writs for purpose apart from enforcing   fundamental rights.

Conclusion 

Hence it can be concluded with the above discussions that  In 1977  when Janata party won the general election on the promise that they will undo the changes brought through 42^nd constitution amendment act . morarji desai become next prime minister and 44^th constitution amendment act was passed to do so .its main aim was to safeguard the nation’s interest and nullifying  parliament’s unrestrained power to amend constitution

References 

R.C. Bhardwaj, ed. (1 January 1995). Constitution Amendment in India (Sixth ed.). New Delhi: Northern Book Centre. p. 196. ISBN 9788172110659. Retrieved 21 December 2018

“The Constitution Amendment Acts (First to Ninety-fourth) Objects and Reasons, Legislative History and Synopsis” (PDF). pp. 180–183. Archived from the original

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