The Constitution (Eleventh Amendment) Act,
1961
It amended Article 71 so as to make it clear
that the election of the President or the Vice
Chronicle IAS Academy [5]
President shall not be challenged on the ground
of any vacancy for whatever reason in the
appropriate electoral college. It also obviates the
necessity of a joint meeting of the two Houses of
Parliament (Article 66) by constituting them into
an electoral college for the election of the Vice-
President.
The Constitution (Twelfth Amendment) Act,
1962
The main object of the Amendment was to
add Union Territories of Goa, Daman and Diu
to the Union of India and for this First Schedule
of the Constitution was amended.
The Constitution (Thirteenth Amendment) Act,
1962
The Act provides the creation of Nagaland
as the Sixteenth State of the Union. The
Amendment provides also for the vesting of
certain special responsibilities in the Governor
of Nagaland.
The Constitution (Fourteenth Amendment) Act,
1962
The amendment provides for the
incorporation of the former French
Establishments in India, under the name
Pondicherry, as an integral part of the territory
of the Indian Union. It also amended Article 31
to increase, from a maximum 20 to 25, the
number of seats assigned in the Lok Sabha for
the Union Territories.
The Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Act,
1963
The amendment raised the retirement age of
High Court Judges from 60 to 62 years. It also
empowered the various High Courts to hear
cases against the Union Government.
The Constitution (Sixteenth Amendment) Act,
1963
The Act seeks to enable Parliament to make
laws provident penalty for any person
questioning the sovereignty and integrity of
India. Under the provisions of the this
Amendment, a person shall not be qualified to
be chosen to fill a seat in Parliament or in the
Legislature of State unless, inter-alia, he makers
or subscribes before a person authorised by the
Election Commission an oath or affirmation that
he will bear true faith and allegiance to the
Constitution and will uphold the sovereignty
and integrity of India.
The Constitution (Seventeenth Amendment)
Act, 1964
The Act amended the definition of the term
‘estate’ in Article 31A to include lands held under
'Ryotwari settlement' and also other lands in
respect of which provisions are normally made
in land reform enactments. It also amended the
Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to include
therein 44 State enactments related to land
reforms in order to remove any uncertainty or
dobut that may arise with regard to their
validity.
The Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act,
1966
The amendment provides for the creation of
new States, namely, Punjab and Haryana as a
result of the reorganisation of the former State
of Punjab and the Union Territory of Himachal
Pradesh.
The Constitution (Nineteenth Amendment) Act,
1966
The Act modified Article 324 so as to
terminate the jurisdiction of Election Tribunals
to decide election disputes. The Amendment
withdrew from the Election Commission the
power of setting up Election Tribunals.
The Constitution (Twentieth Amendment) Act,
1966
The Act inserted a new Article 233A
immediately after Article 233 in order to validate
the appointment of District Judges, which might
not have conformed fully to the different
Constitutional requirements, which were in
existent prior to 1966.
The Constitution (Twenty-first Amendment)
Act, 1967
It amended the Eighth Schedule to the
Constitution by including ‘Sindhi’
therein.
The Constitution (Twenty-second Amendment)
Act, 1969
The amendment conferred legislative power
on Parliament for the purpose of creating an
autonomous Hill State within the State of Assam.
Accordingly, Parliament passed the AssamReorganization (Meghalaya) Act, 1969 to set up
the State of Meghalaya within the State of
Assam.
The Constitution (Twenty-third Amendment)
Act, 1969
It deals with the questions of reservation of
seat in Parliament and State Assemblies for
Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Anglo-
Indian and further extend the period of
reservation by another ten years, which means
in effect thirty years from the commencement of
the Constitution.
The Constitution (Twenty-fourth Amendment)
Act, 1971
It amended Article 13 and 368 with a view
to removing all possible doubts regarding the
power of Parliament to amend the Constitution
and procedure thereof. It gets over the Golak
Nath ruling and asserts the power of Parliament,
denied to in the Golak Nath, to amend
Fundamental Rights.
The Constitution (Twenty-fifth) Amendment
Act, 1971
The 25th amendment of the Constitution in
1971 added a new clause, Article 31C to the
Constitution. Upto 1971, the position was that
Fundamental Rights prevailed over the Directive
Principles of State Policy and that a law enacted
to implement a Directive Principle could not be
valid if it conflicted with a Fundamental Right.
Article 31C sought to change this relationship
to some extent by conferring primacy on Articles
39(b) and 39(c) over Articles 14, 19 and 31.
The Constitution (Twenty-sixth Amendment)
Act, 1971
It abolished Articles 291 and 362 of the
Constitution and also inserted a new Article
362A after Article 363. the cumulative effect of
these changes was the end of the recognition
granted to the former rulers of Indian States and
the abolition of Privy Purses.
