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RIGHT TO PROPERTY
-A VOYAGE FROM FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT
SUBMITTED TO:
SUBMITTED BY:
ARPIT SHIVHARE
2014B.A.LL.B.04
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to begin with acknowledging our Professor KULDEEP KAUR who gave us
this opportunity to work on a project work, giving us full autonomy to choose our topics
as well as guidance where ever needed.
I would also like to thank the director of the university and the administration who have
given us all the requisite facilities like library, wi-fi connection, computer lab, photo stat
which make the task much easier and efficient.
Also, I would like to extend my gratefulness to my batch mates and parents who have
supported me throughout in this endeavor.
Arpit Shivhare
2014 B.A.LL.B (Hons.)04
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TOPIC
PAGE NO.
1. INTRODUCTION4
2. Supreme Courts Approach to the
Right to Property7
3. RIGHT TO PROPERTY AS FUNDAMENTAL
RIGHT8
4. RIGHT TO PROPERTY AS CONSTITUIUONAL
RIGHT9
INTRODUCTION
The Indian Constitution does not recognize property right as a fundamental right. In the year
1977, the 44th amendment eliminated the right to acquire, hold and dispose of property as a
fundamental right. However, in another part of the Constitution, Article 300 (A) was inserted to
affirm that no person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law. The result is that
the right to property as a fundamental right is now substituted as a statutory right. The
amendment expanded the power of the state to appropriate property for social welfare purposes.
Indian experiences and conception of property and wealth have a very different historical basis
than that of western countries. The present system of property as we know arises out of the
peculiar developments in Europe in the 17th to 18thcentury and therefore its experiences were
universally not applicable. A still more economic area in which the answer is both difficult and
important is the definition of property rights. The notion of property as it has developed over
centuries and it has embodies in our legal codes, has become so much a part of us that we tend to
take it for granted, and fail to recognize the extent to which just what constitutes property and
what rights the ownership of property confers are complex social creations rather than self
evident propositions. This also seems to be the hidden reason why the right to property is
suddenly much contested throughout India today and why the state is coming up unexpectedly
against huge resistance from unexpected quarters in attempting to acquire land in India.
DOCTRINE
OF
EMINENT DOMAIN
This doctrine entitles sovereign to acquire private land for a public use, provided the public
utility can be demonstrated beyond doubt. In the present context this doctrine raises the classic
debate of powers of State v. Individual Rights. Here comes the DID (Development Induced
Displacement) which means, the forcing of communities even out of their homes, often from
their home lands for the purpose of economic development, which is viewed as a violation of
human rights at the international level.
Relevant maxims
The doctrine is based on the following two Latin maxims:
i.
Salus Populi est Suprema Lex The welfare of the people of the public is the paramount
law;
ii.
Necessita Public Major est Quam - Public necessity is greater than private necessity.
Every government has an inherent right to take and appropriate the private property belonging to
individual citizen for public use. This power is known as Eminent Domain. It is the offspring of
political necessity. This right rests upon the above said two maxims. Thus property may be
needed and acquired under this power for government office, libraries, slum clearance projects,
public schools, parks, hospitals, highways, telephone lines, colleges , universities, dams,
drainages etc.The exercise of such power has been recognized in the jurisprudence of all
civilized countries as conditioned by public necessity and payment of compensation.But this
power is subject to restrictions provided in the constitution. In the United States of America,
there are limitations on the power of Eminent Domain--1.
2.
3.
Meaning of Property
The word property as used in Article 31 the Supreme Court has said should be given liberal
meaning and should be extended to all those well recognized types of interest which have the
insignia or characteristic of property right.It includes both corporeal and incorporeal right.It
includes money, Contract, interest in property e.g., interest of an allottee, licensees, mortgages or
lessees of property. The Mahantship of a Hindu Temple, and shareholders of Interests in the
company are recognizable interest in property. The right to receive pension is property.
b.
The constitution guarantees that the expropriate owner must be given the value of his
property (the reasonable compensation for the loss of the property). That reasonable
compensation must not be illusionary and not reached by the application of an
undertaking as a unit after awarding compensation for some items which go to make up
the undertaking and omitting important items amounts to adopting an irrelevant principle
in the determination of the value of the undertaking and does not furnish compensation
to the expropriated owner.
Through Article 31 C took away the right to acquire, hold and dispose off the property under
Article 19(1) (f)
2.
Right to property under Article 19(1) (f) did not pertain to the basic structure of the constitution
(Honble Justice. H.R.Khanna)
3.
Article 19(1) (f) conferred citizens the right to acquire, hold and dispose off the property under
Article 19(1) (f) which formed a part of group of articles under the heading Right to Freedom
4.
The 44th amendment act which deleted article 19(1) (f) and introduced this article brought out the
following important changes:
1.
In view of the special position sought to be given to fundamental rights, the right to property,
which has been the occasion for more than one Amendment of the Constitution, would cease to
be a fundamental right and become only a legal right. Necessary amendments for this purpose
are being made to Article 19 and Article 31 is being deleted. It would however be ensured that
the removal of property from the list of fundamental rights would not affect the rights of the
minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
2.
Similarly, the right of persons holding land for personal cultivation and within ceiling limit to
receive market compensation at the market value will not be affected.
3.
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That Articles 19(1) (f) and 31(2) dealt with a different, but connected, aspects of the
right to property is clear from several Supreme Court decisions which dealt with the
co relation of those two Articles.
(ii)
The correct view was that the two Articles were mutually exclusive. But one
judgement which was soon corrected and another judgement which was a judgement
per incur am, to the view that Articles 19(1)(f) and 31(2) were not mutually exclusive.
This judicial conflict was resolved by 25th Amendment, which introduced in Article
31 a new clause (2-B) which provided that Nothing in Article 19(1)(f) shall effect any
such law as is referred in clause (2). The validity of this Amendment as unanimously
upheld in the Kesavananda case. The reason for this mutual exclusiveness was that
when property is acquired for a public purpose on payment of compensation, the right
of a citizen to hold property is gone and the question of his right to hold property
subject to reasonable restrictions does not arise.
(iii)
Further, Article 19(1)(f) that conferred citizens the right to acquire, hold and dispose
of property formed part of a group of articles under the heading Right to Freedom. It
requires no elaborate argument to demonstrate that property is intimately connected
with the right to freedom. Article 31 appeared under the heading Right to Property;
for the right to freedom conferred by Article 19(1)(f) would be worth little if the
property when acquired could be taken away by law. Hence Article. 31 provided that
private property could be acquired only for a public purpose and on payment of
compensation. There is nothing in the Statement of Objects and Reasons to show that
Parliament no longer looks upon the right to acquire, hold and dispose of property as
a part of the Right to Freedom.
(iv)
The retention of Article. 19(1) (a) to (e) and (g) is a clear indication to the contrary.
Sub-clauses (d), (e) and (f) of Article. 19(1)(f)(1) were interlinked is clear from their
provisions as well as from sub-Article (5) which governed each of those sub-clauses.
The meaning of Article 19(1) (f) has been considered and it is being submitted that
the Supreme Court correctly held that the right conferred by Article 19(1)(d) was not
a right of free movement simpliciter, but a special right to move freely throughout the
territory of India with a view to secure, among other things, the unity of India which a
narrow provincialism would deny.
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This right of free movement was not limited to travelling throughout India, because it
was accompanied by the further right conferred by Article 19(1) (e) to reside and
settle in any part of India, as also the right conferred by Article 19(1)(f) to acquire,
hold and dispose of property, in any part of India. But a right to settle in any part of
India means not only a right to have a place to live in, but also a place to work in, for
Article 19(1)(g) confers on every citizen the right to practise any profession, or to
carry on any occupation, trade or business.
(vi)
Further, Article 19(1)(a) confers on every citizen the right to the freedom of speech
and expression, which right includes the freedom of the press a right which is basic to
democracy. But a press needs a building or buildings to house it, and movable
property to work it, so that without the right to acquire, hold and dispose of property,
there can be no freedom of the press. And the same is broadly true of the fundamental
right conferred by Article 19(1) (c)-the right to form associations or unions-for
normally the working of associations and unions involves the right to acquire, hold
and dispose of property. What then is the effect of deleting Article 19(1) (f), which
conferred the right to acquire, hold and dispose of property, and of deleting Article 31
which provided for the acquisition of property for public purpose on payment of
compensation.
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(ii)Due to the deletion of Article 31 the Government was no longer under an obligation to
compensate persons whose land had been acquired as per a law passed by Parliament.
As of now, it is, beyond the scope of my research and understanding as to whether Proposition
(ii) i.e. deprivation of property without compensation is still legally tenable especially in light of
the Supreme Court's ruling, in the Maneka Gandhi case, which held that each and every
provision of the Constitution had to be interpreted in a just, fair and reasonable manner.
Therefore any law depriving a person of his property shall have to do so in a reasonable manner.
It could be argued that the only reasonable manner to deprive a person of his property would be
to offer him, reasonable compensation for the same. This discussion however is not completely
relevant for the purpose of this post. The only relevant point is the fact that under the
Constitution no person can be deprived of their property without the authority of law.
CONCLUSION
In the past, it was thought that the personal rights like the right to vote, right to freedom of
speech or personal liberty occupied a higher status in the hierarchy of values than the right to
property. As a result the courts were more astute to strike down legislations, which impinged
upon these rights, than upon property rights. But the courts of law that the distinction between
the two was unreal and held that nobody seems to have bestowed any thought on the question
why property rights are not personal rights. The Supreme Court of America which once gave
hospitable quarter to the distinction between personal rights and property rights and accorded a
preferred position to the former, has given a decent burial both to the distinction and the
preferred status of the so called personal rights or liberties in 1972 by saying the dichotomy
between personal liberties and property rights is a false one.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
M.P. Jains Constituional Law
V.N. Shuklas Constituion of India
Websites
www.judic.nic.in
www.supremecourtcases.com
www.manupatra.com
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