Sri Shankari Prasad Singh Deo v/s. Union of India & State of Bihar

  • Yash Tiwari
  • September 11, 2020

Content :

To abolish the prevalent Zamindari system in India, some State Government enacted the Zamindari Abolition Act to acquire and redistribute huge holding of land lying with rich zamindars to tenants. Yet the same had been criticized as being illegal and violating the right to property that has been included in the fundamental rights.The Act was held unconstitutional by the HC of Patna but was upheld by the HCs of Allahabad and Nagpur; hereby eventually the matter was put before the Supreme Court. In the midst of this, the Union Government passed the First Amendment to the Constitution, validating the Zamindari Abolition laws and limiting the Fundamental Right to Property.To justify the steps challenged, Articles 31A and 31B were inserted in the constitution. The Zamindars challenged the amendment in the Supreme Court, stating it was unconstitutional and invalid.