Amendments — Set 6

Correct Answer: B. 42nd Amendment

• **42nd Amendment (1976)** = added Part XIV-A with Articles 323A (Administrative Tribunals) and 323B (Tribunals for other matters like taxation, elections, labour disputes). • **Purpose** — to reduce the enormous backlog of service and tax cases in High Courts by creating specialised tribunals whose decisions would bypass the HC and go directly to the Supreme Court. • 💡 Option A (73rd Amendment) gave constitutional status to Panchayati Raj — it did not add Part XIV-A. Option C (44th Amendment) reversed many changes of the 42nd Amendment but did not introduce tribunals. Option D (24th Amendment) affirmed Parliament's power to amend FRs — none of these introduced Administrative Tribunal provisions.

Correct Answer: B. 62 years

• **15th Amendment (1963)** = raised the retirement age of High Court judges from 60 to 62 years and enabled the appointment of retired High Court judges as acting judges in any High Court. • **SC vs HC contrast** — Supreme Court judges retire at 65 while High Court judges retire at 62; the 15th Amendment set the current HC retirement age that still applies today. • 💡 Option A (63 years) is wrong — the 15th Amendment raised the age to 62, not 63. Option C (70 years) is wrong — no Indian constitutional provision fixes 70 as retirement age for any judge. Option D (65 years) is the retirement age of Supreme Court judges, not High Court judges — the HC retirement age was raised only to 62.

Correct Answer: C. Non-justiciable

• **38th Amendment (1975)** = made the declaration of Emergency by the President under Articles 352, 356, and 360 final and conclusive, barring judicial review — enacted during the Emergency itself. • **Reversed by 44th Amendment** — the 44th Amendment (1978) deleted this provision and restored the power of courts to scrutinise Emergency proclamations, making them justiciable once again. • 💡 Option A (Subject to Parliament approval only) is incorrect — the 38th Amendment actually made proclamations non-justiciable, meaning no scrutiny at all, not even by courts. Option B (Subject to Judicial Review) is the opposite of what the 38th Amendment did — it removed judicial review. Option D (Conditional) misrepresents the effect — the 38th Amendment made Emergency proclamations unconditional and unchallengeable.

Correct Answer: A. National Commission for SCs and STs

• **65th Amendment (1990)** = established the multi-member National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under Article 338, replacing the single Special Officer appointed under the original Article 338. • **Constitutional status** — the commission was given the powers of a civil court to investigate complaints and monitor safeguards for SCs and STs; later bifurcated by the 89th Amendment into NCSC and NCST. • 💡 Option B (National Human Rights Commission) was established by the Protection of Human Rights Act 1993 — not by any constitutional amendment. Option C (National Commission for Women) was set up by the NCW Act 1990 — also a statutory body. Option D (NITI Aayog) was created by Cabinet resolution in 2015 replacing the Planning Commission — none of these were created by the 65th Amendment.

Correct Answer: B. 81st Amendment

• **81st Amendment (2000)** = added Article 16(4B) to allow the state to treat unfilled reserved vacancies as a separate class that will not count against the 50% ceiling on reservations in any subsequent year. • **Indra Sawhney ruling** — the Supreme Court had held that reserved vacancies cannot be carried forward beyond one year if they hit the 50% ceiling; the 81st Amendment constitutionally overruled this for backlog vacancies of SCs and STs. • 💡 Option A (82nd Amendment) enabled relaxation of qualifying marks for SCs and STs in promotions under Article 335 — a different provision. Option C (86th Amendment) made education a Fundamental Right for children aged 6–14. Option D (85th Amendment) added the concept of 'consequential seniority' for SC/ST promotees — none of these authorised filling backlog vacancies as a separate class.

Correct Answer: C. Prime Minister and Speaker

• **39th Amendment (1975)** = placed the election of the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, and Speaker of Lok Sabha beyond judicial scrutiny — disputes to be decided by a Parliament-determined authority. • **Struck down in Indira Gandhi v. Raj Narain** — the Supreme Court invalidated the 39th Amendment as violating the basic structure of the Constitution (free and fair elections and judicial review). • 💡 Option A (Members of Parliament) — their election disputes go to High Courts under Article 329; the 39th Amendment did not extend its protection to all MPs. Option B (Governor) — Governors are not elected; the 39th Amendment concerned elected offices. Option D (Chief Minister) — CMs are also not directly elected by the people; the 39th Amendment specifically covered the PM and Speaker, not Chief Ministers.

Correct Answer: A. 44th Amendment

• **44th Amendment (1978)** = substituted 'armed rebellion' for 'internal disturbance' in Article 352, making the grounds for National Emergency narrower and more specific. • **Safeguards added** — the 44th Amendment also required Cabinet recommendation in writing, Parliamentary approval within one month, and a special majority of two-thirds of members present and voting. • 💡 Option B (52nd Amendment) added the Anti-Defection Law (Tenth Schedule) — unrelated to Emergency grounds. Option C (42nd Amendment) was the opposite — it removed safeguards and made Emergency proclamations non-justiciable. Option D (61st Amendment) reduced the voting age to 18 — none of these substituted 'armed rebellion' for 'internal disturbance'.

Correct Answer: C. Article 338B

• **102nd Amendment (2018)** = gave constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) by inserting Article 338B, placing it on par with the NCSC (Article 338) and NCST (Article 338A). • **Article 342A** — also inserted to empower the President to notify the list of SEBCs for Central purposes; this caused confusion about state powers, later clarified by the 105th Amendment. • 💡 Option A (Article 342A) is actually a second insertion by the same 102nd Amendment, not the primary article for NCBC — Article 338B is the correct answer for NCBC's constitutional basis. Option B (Article 340A) does not exist in the Constitution. Option D (Article 330A) also does not exist — the correct NCBC article is 338B.

Correct Answer: B. 74th Amendment

• **74th Amendment (1992)** = mandated reservation of not less than one-third of seats for women in Municipalities, including seats within the SC/ST reserved quota. • **Parallel with 73rd** — the 73rd Amendment similarly mandated one-third reservation for women in Panchayats; both amendments together form the bedrock of women's representation in local governance. • 💡 Option A (70th Amendment) defined 'population' for the purpose of the Third Schedule (seats in Parliament) — unrelated to municipal women's reservation. Option C (69th Amendment) designated Delhi as NCT. Option D (73rd Amendment) provides women's reservation in Panchayats (rural), not Municipalities (urban) — for urban bodies, the 74th Amendment is the correct answer.

Correct Answer: D. Part IV-A

• **Part IV-A** = added by the 42nd Amendment (1976) on the recommendation of the Swaran Singh Committee; it contains only Article 51A listing the Fundamental Duties of citizens. • **10 original + 1 added** — originally 10 duties were listed; the 86th Amendment (2002) added an 11th duty (Article 51A(k)) making it a parent's/guardian's duty to provide education. • 💡 Option A (Part IV) of the Constitution contains the Directive Principles of State Policy (Articles 36–51) — not Fundamental Duties. Option B (Part III) contains Fundamental Rights (Articles 12–35). Option C (Part V) covers the Union (President, Parliament, etc.) — none of these contain Fundamental Duties, which are exclusively in Part IV-A.