Special Bench Quorum for Constitutional Validity of Laws (Omitted)
Official heading: “Special provisions as to disposal of questions relating to constitutional validity of laws”
Enacted during the Emergency to hobble judicial review of legislation; omitted after the Emergency to restore normal judicial function.
- Source edition
- The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2026)
- Source locator
- Part V, Article 144A, printed page 65
- Last human source-link check
- Not yet checked
- Last human legal review
- Not yet reviewed
AI-assisted source comparisons are noted with the citations below; the check date remains pending until a human confirms the link. The report link opens your email app; you choose whether to send it.
1. In One Sentence
Article 144A, inserted during the Emergency by the 42nd Amendment (1976) to require a minimum 7-judge bench and two-thirds majority to invalidate laws, was omitted by the 43rd Amendment (1977).
2. What It Means in Everyday Language
Article 144A was inserted by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976 during the national Emergency.
It created an unprecedented procedural restriction on judicial review: it mandated that the Supreme Court could not determine the constitutional validity of any Central or State law unless the bench consisted of at least seven Judges, and no law could be declared invalid unless a special majority of not less than two-thirds of the judges concurred.
This was intended to severely handicap judicial review by preventing simple majorities (such as 3-2 or 4-3) from invalidating executive or parliamentary legislation.
The Constitution (Forty-third Amendment) Act, 1977 omitted Article 144A in its entirety (effective 13 April 1978), restoring the standard constitutional quorum of five judges under Article 145(3) deciding by simple majority.
3. Practical Illustrative Example
A 5-Judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court hears a challenge to an election law and strikes it down by a 3-2 majority vote.
4. Important Limits, Qualifications & Exceptions
Article 144A was an Emergency-era fetter on constitutional judicial review that was repealed to restore democratic majority adjudication.
- Inserted by 42nd Amendment (1976); omitted by 43rd Amendment (1977).
- Attempted to impose minimum 7-judge benches and 2/3 majorities to strike down statutes.
- Repeal restored standard 5-judge constitutional benches under Article 145(3).
5. Historical constitutional wording — not operative
6. Sources & Historical Assembly Deliberations
Assembly quotations are withheld until wording, dates, and attribution have been checked against the primary record.
- •Government of India (Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice) • Part V, Article 144A, printed page 65 • Human source-link check pending
Primary PDF accessed and transcribed with AI assistance on 14 October 2026. Formatting and amendment annotation markers are omitted; operative wording is retained. This is not human legal review. Later amendments and commencement notifications have not been comprehensively checked.