SC junks pleas demanding deletion of Socialist, Secular from Preamble
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court dismissed at least three pleas that challenged the 1976 amendment to the Constitution, which added the terms "socialist", "secular", and "integrity" to the Preamble, PTI reported.
A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar noted that the power of the Parliament to amend the Constitution extends to the Preamble as well, the Bar and Bench reported.
The petitions do not require a detailed hearing, the CJI said.
"The writ petitions do not need further deliberation and adjudication. Amending the power of Parliament over the Constitution extends to the Preamble. We have explained that after so many years, the process cannot be nullified. The date of the adoption would not curtail the government's power under Article 368, which is not under challenge," Bar and Bench quoted the court.
"The two expressions 'socialist' and 'secular' were made in 1976 through amendments, and the fact that the Constitution was adopted in 1949 does not make any difference... the retrospective arguments, if accepted, will apply to all amendments," noted the CJI.
On November 22, the bench had reserved its verdict on the batch of pleas filed by former Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy, advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain and others, challenging the inclusion of the words "socialist" and "secular" in the Preamble to the Constitution.
In October, the top court observed that secularism was held to be a core feature of the Constitution. Also, the terms "socialist" and "secular" in the Preamble to the Indian Constitution need not be looked at through the Western lens, Bar and Bench reported.
