Many amendments to the Constitution of India have been made due to different interpretations upheld by the Judiciary and the Parliament. Explain with examples.

Many amendments to the Constitution of India have been made due to different interpretations upheld by the Judiciary and the Parliament. The First Amendment Act of 1951 made many changes in the Constitution. The reason was that certain flaws were discovered in the working of the Constitution and those had to be remedied. The right to freedom of speech and expression as given by Article 19 of the Constitution was held by some courts to be so comprehensive that no action could be taken against any individual. Moreover many states had passed laws abolishing Zamindari System but the laws were declared ultra vires by the courts. So it was considered necessary to amend the Constitution.

In the famous case of Kesavananda Bharti, the Parliament's power to amend the Constitution was checked and it has got some specific limits. It says that no amendment can violate the basic structure of the Constitution. When the judiciary and the government clash, the Parliament had to insert an amendment. On many occasions the Parliament has not agreed with the judicial interpretation and therefore sought to amend the Constitution to overcome the ruling of the judiciary.

In the period between 1970 and 1975 such a situation arose frequently. In 1971, the Twenty-Fourth Amendment gave the power to Parliament to amend any part of the Constitution in which the Fundamental Rights were also included. Forty Second Amendment (1976) was the most controversial. 38th, 39th and 42nd amendments were made in the background of internal emergency.

The 42nd amendment also put restrictions on the review powers of the judiciary. This amendment made changes to the Preamble, to the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution and to 53 other articles of the Constitution. The 43rd and 44th amendments cancelled most of the changes that were effected by the 38th, 39th and 42nd amendments. The constitutional balance was restored by these amendments. There are some examples in which judicial interpretation changed our understanding of the Constitution. As the Supreme Court had held that reservations in jobs and educational institutions cannot exceed fifty percent of the total seats.