Consider the following statements:
1. The Constitution of India defines its 'basic structure' in terms of federalism, secularism, fundamental rights and democracy.
2. The Constitution of India provides for 'judicial review' to safeguard the citizens' liberties and to preserve the ideals on which the Constitution is based.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1 only

2 only

Both 1 and 2

Neither 1 nor 2

APEDIA

UPSC Prelims

2020 • 04 Oct, 2020 • Paper-1

Consider the following statements:
1. The Constitution of India defines its 'basic structure' in terms of federalism, secularism, fundamental rights and democracy.
2. The Constitution of India provides for 'judicial review' to safeguard the citizens' liberties and to preserve the ideals on which the Constitution is based.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Correct Answer

Neither 1 nor 2

Statement 1 Analysis: The term 'basic structure' is a judicial innovation propounded by the Supreme Court in the landmark Kesavananda Bharati case (1973). The C......

💡 Analysis & Explanation

Statement 1 Analysis ▼

The term 'basic structure' is a judicial innovation propounded by the Supreme Court in the landmark Kesavananda Bharati case (1973). The Constitution of India itself does not contain any clause that explicitly defines or lists the components of the 'basic structure'. Therefore, the first statement is factually incorrect.

Statement 2 Analysis ▼

While the power of judicial review is implicitly derived from various articles (like Article 13, 32, and 226), the Constitution of India does not explicitly use the phrase 'judicial review' anywhere in its text to formally provide a specific, standalone definitional mechanism for it. The explicit phraseology makes the statement technically incorrect in the context of UPSC's interpretation of constitutional texts.

Conclusion ▼

Since both statements attribute non-existent explicit definitions to the constitutional text, neither is correct.

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