Which Amendment restored the primacy of Fundamental Rights over Directive Principles?

Question

Which Amendment restored the primacy of Fundamental Rights over Directive Principles?

1. A. 44th Amendment (Correct answer)
2. B. 42nd Amendment
3. C. 74th Amendment
4. D. 84th Amendment

Correct Answer

Option A — 44th Amendment

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is 44th Amendment.

Key Points

• The 44th Amendment Act, 1978 was enacted by the Janata government to reverse the excesses of the Emergency and restored the primacy of Fundamental Rights over Directive Principles.
• The 42nd Amendment (1976) had done the opposite, giving Directive Principles precedence and immunising such laws from judicial review — which is what the 44th undid.
• The other options are unrelated: the 74th concerns municipalities, the 84th the freezing of Lok Sabha seat allocation.

Additional Information

• The 44th Amendment also removed the Right to Property from Fundamental Rights (Article 31), making it a legal right under Article 300A — the only Fundamental Right ever deleted.
• It replaced "internal disturbance" with "armed rebellion" as a ground for National Emergency under Article 352, making proclamation substantially harder, and required the Cabinet's advice to be in writing.
• It made Articles 20 and 21 non-suspendable even during an Emergency — a direct response to the *ADM Jabalpur* (1976) judgment.
• The judicial counterpart is Minerva Mills v. Union of India (1980), where the Supreme Court struck down parts of the 42nd Amendment and held the balance between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles to be part of the basic structure.