Judgment-

SUBBA RAO, C. J. (On behalf of him-self. Shah, Sikri, Shelat and Vaidialingam, JJ.);

( 1 ) THESE three writ petitions raise the important question of the validity of the Constitution (Seventeenth Amendment) Act, 1964.

( 2 ) WRIT Petition No. 153 of 1966, is filed by the petitioners therein against the State of Punjab and the Financial Commissioner, Punjab. The petitioners are the son, daughter and granddaughters of one Henry Golak Nath, who died on 30/07/1953. The Financial Commissioner, in revision against the order made by the Additional Commissioner, Jullundur Division, held by an order dated 22/01/1962 that an area of 418 standard acres and 9-1/4 units was surplus in the hands of the petitioners under the provisions of the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act X of 1953, read with s. 10-B thereof. The petitioners, alleging that the relevant provisions of the said Act where under the said area was declared surplus were void on the ground that they infringed their rights under cls. (f) and (g) of Art. 19 and Art. 14 of the Constitution, filed a writ in this court under Art. 32 of the Constitution for a direction that the Constitution (First Amendment) Act 1951, Constitution (Fourth Amendment) Act, 1955, Constitution (Seventeenth Amendment) Act, 1964, insofar as they affected their fundamental rights were unconstitutional and inoperative and for a direction that s. 10-B of the said Act X of 1953 was void as violative of Arts. 14 and 19 (1) (f) and (g) of the Constitution.

( 3 ) WRIT Petitions Nos. 202 and 203 of 1966 were filed by different petitioners under Art. 32 of the Constitution for a declaration that the Mysore Land Reforms Act (Act 10 of 1962) as amended by Act 14 of 1965, which fixed ceilings on land holdings and conferred ownership of surplus lands on tenants infringed Arts. 14, 19 and 31 of the Constitution and, therefore, was unconstitutional and void.

( 4 ) THE States of Punjab and Mysore, inter alia, contended that the said Acts were saved from attack on the ground that they infringed the fundamental rights of the petitioners by reason of the Constitution (Seventeenth Amendment) Act, 1964, which, by amending Art. 31-A of the Constitution and including the said two Arts in the 9th Schedule thereto, had placed them beyond attack.

( 5 ) IN Writ Petition No. 153 of 1966, 7 parties intervened. In Writ Petition No. 202 of 1966 one party intervened. In addition, in the first petition, notice was given to the Advocates General of various States. A11 the learned counsel appearing for the parties, the Advocates General appearing for the States and the learned counsel for the interveners have, placed their respective viewpoints exhaustively before us. We are indebted to all of them for their thorough preparation and clear exposition of the difficult questions of law that were raised in the said petitions.

( 6 ) AT the outset it would be convenient to place briefly the respective contentions under different heads : (1) The Constitution is intended to be permanent and, therefore, it cannot be amended in a way which would injure, maim or destroy its indestructible character. (2) The word `amendment` implies such an addition or change within the lines of the original instrument as will effect an improvement or better carry out the purpose for which it was framed and it cannot be so construed as to enable the Parliament to destroy the permanent character of the Constitution. (3) The fundamental rights are a part of the basic structure of the Constitution and, therefore, the said power can be exercised only to preserve rather than destroy the essence of those rights. (4) The limits on the power to amend are implied in Art. 368, for the expression `amend` has a limited meaning. The wide phraseo-logy used in the Constitution in other Articles, such as `repeal` and `re-enact` indicates that art. 368 only enables a modification of the Articles within the framework of the Constitution and a destruction of them. (5) The debates