Amendment of the Constitution

Art. 368 details the procedure of a constitutional amendment. An amendment may be initiated only by the introduction of a bill for the purpose in either House of the Parliament. When the Bill is passed in each House by a special majority under Art. 368 i.e. by a majority of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting. There is no provision of joint sitting (Art. 108). Also, it is obligatory for the President to give his assent and he can neither withhold nor can send the Bill for reconsideration of the Houses.

Under the Constitution, the various provisions have been divided into three different groups for the purposes of amendment. These are :-

    I.        Provisions which can be altered by Parliament by a Simple Majority :-

Several articles make provisions of a tentative nature, and Parliament has been given power to make law regarding these provisions by ordinary legislative process (by simple majority). It is not to be regarded as an amendment of the Constitution and is not subject to special procedure of Art. 368.

These provisions of the Constitution are :-

                                i.            When Parliament admits a new State under Art. 2, and the creation of new States, alteration of areas, boundaries or names of the existing States under Art. 3

                              ii.            Under Art. 11, Parliament is empowered to make any provision for acquisition and termination of and all other matters relating to, citizenship in respect of Art. 5 to 10

                            iii.            Art. 105(3) prescribes parliamentary privileges until it is defined by Parliament

                             iv.            Art. 124(1) prescribes that Supreme Court shall have a Chief Justice and 7 Judges until Parliament increases the strength of the Judges

                               v.            Art. 135 confers jurisdiction on the Supreme Court unless Parliament otherwise provides

                             vi.            Creation or abolition of Legislative Council in a State

                           vii.            Administration and control of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes (Art. 244)

                         viii.            Art. 343(3) provides that Parliament may by law provide for the use of English for official purpose even after 15 years as prescribed in Art. 343(2)

 II.        Provisions which need amendment by Special Majority of Parliament (Art. 368) :-

An amendment Bill, in this case, must be passed by each Houses of Parliament by a majority of total members of the Houses and the majority must not be less than two-thirds of the members present and voting.

                                i.            Most of the provisions including Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles are amended through this procedure.

III.        Provisions which need amendment by Special Majority of Parliament and ratification by half of State Legislatures (Art. 368) :-

Those provisions of Constitution which affect the federal structure or federal issues in which both the Union and the States have interest has to be passed by special majority of Parliament and ratified by more than one half of State Legislature. The Constitution does not impose any time-frame within which the States must signify their ratification of a constitutional amendment Bill.

The provisions that require  amendment through this manner are :-

                     i.        the election of the President (Art. 54 and 55)

                    ii.        the extent of executive power of the Union and the States (Art. 73 and 162)

                  iii.        the Supreme Court and High Courts (Art. 241)

                   iv.        distribution of legislative powers between the Union and the States (Art. 246 and Schedule VII)

                    v.        representation of States in Parliament

                   vi.        the procedure for amendment of the Constitution itself (Art. 368)