Explanation:

The case of Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala, AIR 1973 SC 1461 : (1973) 4 SCC 225, is a case decided by a bench of 13 judges of the Supreme Court of India in the year 1973. At that time, this was the full strength of the Supreme Court. This is largest strength of a bench of the Supreme Court which has finally decided any case so far. The main issue in this case was the nature and scope of amending power of the Constitution, i.e., mainly Article 368 of the Constitution which provided for amendment of the Constitution.

The constitutional validity of two Constitution Amendment Acts, namely, the 24th and the 25th Amendment Acts, was challenged in this case before the Supreme Court by way of a writ petition filed under Article 32 of the Constitution.

It may be pointed out that the Constitution (24th Amendment) Act, 1971, had amended Articles 13 and 368 of the Constitution, to re-assert the power of the Parliament to amend any provision of the Constitution, including the fundamental rights.

On the other hand, the Constitution (25th Amendment) Act, 1971, had made changes to Article 31 by substituting the clause (2) with a new clause, and by inserting a new (2B) clause therein; a new Article 31C was also inserted in the Constitution. The net effect of these changes was to further weaken the right to property and to delink Article 19(1)(f) from Article 31(2).

This case of Kesavananda Bharati was decided by a narrow majority of 7 to 6 judges. It was held by the majority that there are certain basic features of the Constitution, which cannot be destroyed or damaged while amending the Constitution. Thus, it meant that while any provision of the Constitution could be amended by following the procedure prescribed under Article 368, such a power to amend was not absolute in as much as the basic features of the Constitution could not be destroyed or emasculated during such an amendment.