List of Important Constitutional Amendments in India

First constitutional Amendment Act: 1951

Added Ninth Schedule to protect the land reform and other laws included in it from the judicial review.
Added three more grounds of restrictions on freedom of speech and expression, viz., public order, friendly relations with foreign states and incitement to an offence. Also, made the restrictions ‘reasonable’ and thus, justiciable in nature.
Empowered the state to make special provisions for the advancement of socially and economically backward classes

Seventh constitutional Amendment Act-1956

This constitutional amendment act was brought to give effect to recommendations of state reorganisation commission
Provided for the establishment of a common high court for two or more states.
Abolished the existing classification of states into four categories i.e., Part A, Part B, Part C and Part D states, and reorganised them into 14 states and 6 union territories
Extended the jurisdiction of high courts to union territories.
Provided for the appointment of additional and acting judges of the high court

Tenth constitutional Amendment Act-1961

Incorporated Dadra and Nagar Haveli in the Indian Union

Twelfth constitutional Amendment Act-1962

Incorporated Goa, Daman and Diu in the Indian Union.

Fourteenth constitutional Amendment Act-1962

Incorporated Puducherry in the Indian Union

Fifteenth constitutional Amendment Act-1963

Increased the retirement age of high court judges from 60 to 62 years

Twenty-Fourth constitutional AmendmentAct-1971

Affirmed the power of Parliament to amend any part of the constitution including fundamental rights.
Made it compulsory for the president to give his assent to a Constitutional Amendment Bill.

Thirty-Second constitutional Amendment Act-1973

Made special provisions to satisfy the aspirations of the people of the Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh.

Thirty-Sixth constitutional Amendment Act-1975

Made Sikkim a full-fledged State of the Indian Union and omitted the Tenth Schedule.

Forty-Second Amendment Act, 1976

It is also known as Mini-Constitution. It was enacted to give effect to the recommendations of Swaran Singh Committee.)
Added three new words (i.e., socialist, secular and integrity) in the Preamble.
Added Fundamental Duties by the citizens (new Part IV A).
Made the president bound by the advice of the cabinet
Added three new Directive Principles viz., equal justice and free legal aid, participation of workers in the management of industries
Shifted five subjects from the state list to the concurrent list, viz, education, forests, protection of wild animals and birds, weights and measures and administration of justice, constitution and organisation of all courts except the Supreme Court and the high courts
Empowered the Centre to deploy its armed forces in any state to deal with a grave situation of law and order.

Forty-Third Amendment Act, 1977

Restored the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and the high courts in respect of judicial review and issue of writs

Forty-Fourth Amendment Act, 1978

Empowered the president to send back once the advice of cabinet for reconsideration. But, the reconsidered advice is to be binding on the president
Replaced the term ‘internal disturbance’ by ‘armed rebellion’ in respect of national emergency.
Made the President to declare a national emergency only on the written recommendation of the cabinet.
Deleted the right to property from the list of Fundamental Rights and made it only a legal right.

Fifty-Second Amendment Act, 1985

This amendment popularly known as Anti-Defection Law
Provided for disqualification of members of Parliament and state legislatures on the ground of defection and added a new Tenth Schedule containing the details in this regard.

Fifty-Fourth Amendment Act, 1986

Increased the salaries of the Supreme Court and high court judges and enabled the Parliament to change them in future by an ordinary law.

Sixtieth Amendment Act, 1988

Increased the ceiling of taxes on professions, trades, callings and employments from Rs 250 per annum to Rs 2,500 per annum

Sixty-First Amendment Act, 1989

Reduced the voting age from 21 years to 18 years for the Lok Sabha and state legislative assembly elections.

Sixty-Fifth Amendment Act, 1990

Provided for the establishment of a multi-member National Commission for SCs and STs in the place of a Special Officer for SCs and STs.

Sixty-Ninth Amendment Act, 1991

Accorded a special status to the Union Territory of Delhi by designing it as the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

Seventieth Amendment Act, 1992

Provided for the inclusion of the members of the Legislative Assemblies of National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Union Territory of Puducherry in the Electoral College for the election of the president.

Seventy-Third Amendment Act, 1992

Granted constitutional status and protection to the panchayati raj institutions.
For this purpose, the Amendment has added a new Part-IX entitled as ‘the panchayats’ and a new Eleventh Schedule containing 29 functional items of the panchayats

Seventy-Fourth Amendment Act, 1992

Granted constitutional status and protection to the urban local bodies.
For this purpose, the Amendment has added a new Part IX-A entitled as ‘the municipalities’ and a new Twelfth Schedule containing 18 functional items of the municipalities

Seventy-Fifth Amendment Act, 1994

Provided for the establishment of rent tribunals for the adjudication of disputes with respect to rent, its regulation and control and tenancy issues including the rights, title and interest of landlords and tenants

Eighty-Fourth Amendment Act, 2001

Extended the ban on readjustment of seats in the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies for another 25 years (i.e., up to 2026) with the same objective of encouraging population limiting measures.
In other words, the number of seats in the Lok Sabha and the assemblies are to remain same till 2026.
It also provided for the readjustment and rationalisation of territorial constituencies in the states on the basis of the population figures of 1991 census

Eighty-Sixth Amendment Act, 2002

Made elementary education a fundamental right. The newly-added Article 21-A declares that “the State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may determine”.
Changed the subject matter of Article 45 in Directive Principles. It now reads—“The State shall endeavour to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years”.
Added a new fundamental duty under Article 51-A which reads—“It shall be the duty of every citizen of India who is a parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to his child or ward between the age of six and fourteen years”.

Eighty-Seventh Amendment Act, 2003

Provided for the readjustment and rationalisation of territorial constituencies in the states on the basis of the population figures of 2001 census and not 1991 census as provided earlier by the 84th Amendment Act of 2001.

Eighty-Eighth Amendment Act, 2003

Made a provision for service tax (Article 268-A). Taxes on services are levied by the Centre. But, their proceeds are collected as well as appropriated by both the Centre and the states in accordance with the principles formulated by parliament

Eighty-Ninth Amendment Act, 2003

Bifurcated the erstwhile combined National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes into two separate bodies, namely, National Commission for Scheduled Castes (Article 338) and National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (Article 338-A). Both the Commissions consist of a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and three other members. They are appointed by the President.

Ninety-First Amendment Act, 2003

The total number of ministers, including the Prime Minister, in the Central Council of Ministers shall not exceed 15% of the total strength of the Lok Sabha (Article 75(1A)).
The total number of ministers, including the Chief Minister, in the Council of Ministers in a state shall not exceed 15% of the total strength of the legislative Assembly of that state. But, the number of ministers, including the Chief Minister, in a state shall not be less than 12 (Article 164(1A)).
The provision of the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) pertaining to exemption from disqualification in case of split by one-third members of legislature party has been deleted. It means that the defectors have no more protection on grounds of splits.

Ninety-Second Amendment Act, 2003

Included four more languages in the Eighth Schedule. They are Bodo, Dogri (Dongri), Maithili (Maithili) and Santhali. With this, the total number of constitutionally recognised languages increased to 22

Ninety-Fifth Amendment Act, 2009

Extended the reservation of seats for the SCs and STs and special representation for the Anglo-Indians in the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies for a further period of ten years i.e., upto 2020 (Article 334).

Ninety-Seventh Amendment Act, 2011

Gave a constitutional status and protection to co-operative societies. In this context, it made the following three changes in the constitution:
It made the right to form co-operative societies a fundamental right (Article 19)
It included a new Directive Principle of State Policy on the promotion of co-operative societies (Article 43-B).
It added a new Part IX-B in the constitution which is entitled as “The Co-operative societies” (Articles 243-ZH to 243-ZT).

101st Constitutional amendment act, 2016

Goods and Services Tax (GST) has commenced with the enactment of the 101st Constitution Amendment Act, 2016 on 8th September, 2016 and the subsequent notifications

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