SC to give its verdict on 25th November

Demand to remove the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ from the Preamble of the Constitution

New Delhi – The Supreme Court on Monday said that the concepts of ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ are integral to the Constitution’s basic framework, a point the courts have consistently said in various rulings. This statement was made during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that calls for these terms to be removed from the Constitution’s Preamble. One of the petitioners is BJP leader and former MP Subramanian Swamy. After the hearing on this, the court will now give its ruling on 25th November.

During the proceedings, advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, representing the petitioners, argued before Justices Sanjiv Khanna and PV Sanjay Kumar that the 42nd Amendment of 1976, which introduced these terms, was never subjected to parliamentary debate.

During the hearing on 22nd November, the court said that nothing can be said about nullifying what Parliament did during the Emergency. The relevant amendment (the 42nd Amendment) has been reviewed by this court several times.