Special Provisions for State Laws (Repealed)
Official heading: “Special provisions as to disposal of questions relating to constitutional validity of State laws.].”
Inserted during the Emergency by the 42nd Amendment (1976) to impede High Courts from striking down State legislation; repealed by the post-Emergency 43rd Amendment (1977).
- Source edition
- The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2026)
- Source locator
- Part VI, Article 228A, printed page 107
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1. In One Sentence
Article 228A, inserted by the 42nd Amendment (1976) to mandate special minimum benches and two-thirds majorities for declaring State laws unconstitutional, was repealed by the 43rd Amendment (1977).
2. What It Means in Everyday Language
Article 228A was enacted by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976, during the Emergency to make it substantially harder for High Courts to invalidate State laws.
It mandated that a High Court could not determine the constitutional validity of any State law unless heard by a bench of not less than five judges (or all judges if the court had fewer than five), and required a special two-thirds majority to strike down any statute.
Constitutional Repeal: The Constitution (Forty-third Amendment) Act, 1977, repealed Article 228A in its entirety (w.e.f. 13 April 1978), restoring the standard constitutional rule that benches constituted under High Court rules decide questions by ordinary majority.
3. Practical Illustrative Example
A division bench of two High Court judges hears a writ petition challenging a State taxation act.
4. Important Limits, Qualifications & Exceptions
Article 228A represents an omitted Emergency-era procedural hurdle designed to insulate State legislation.
- Inserted by 42nd Amendment (1976) during the Emergency.
- Required minimum five-judge benches and two-thirds majorities to invalidate State laws.
- Repealed by 43rd Amendment (1977) to restore judicial independence and normal quorum rules.
- Preserved in official editions as an omitted historical entry.
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 VI, Article 228A, printed page 107 • 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.