Consider the following statements:
- 1.The Parliament of India can place a particular law in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution of India.
- 2.The validity of a law placed in the Ninth Schedule cannot be examined by any court and no judgement can be made on it.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (a) 1 only
Parliament adds laws to the Ninth Schedule through constitutional amendments, and Article 31B shields them from challenge for violating Fundamental Rights. But the shield is not absolute: laws added on or after 24 April 1973 (the Kesavananda Bharati judgment) can be tested against the basic structure.
- ✓ 1. The Ninth Schedule was created by the First Amendment (1951), and Parliament has added many Acts to it by later constitutional amendments.
- ✗ 2. Following Waman Rao (1981) and I.R. Coelho (2007), courts can review a law inserted into the Ninth Schedule after 24 April 1973 if it damages the basic structure of the Constitution.
Remember · Ninth Schedule (Art. 31B, First Amendment 1951) protects listed laws from Part III challenges, but post-24 April 1973 additions remain open to basic-structure review (I.R. Coelho, 2007).
Sources
- Constitution of India, Article 31B (Legislative Department, Government of India) ↗ “none of the Acts and Regulations specified in the Ninth Schedule nor any of the provisions thereof shall be deemed to be void, or ever to have become void, on the ground that such Act, Regulation or provision is inconsistent with”
- I.R. Coelho v. State of Tamil Nadu (1999), Supreme Court of India, recounting Waman Rao (judgment copy hosted by the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh) ↗ “Amendments to the Constitution made on or after 24th April, 1973 by which the Ninth Schedule was amended from time to time by the inclusion of various Acts and Regulations therein were "open to challenge”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·