Property Rights Amendment — Amendments

Amendment	Year	Description	Impact
1st	1951	Introduced Article 31A and 31B, and the Ninth Schedule, to protect land reform laws from judicial review based on Fundamental Rights, particularly property rights.	Attempted to insulate agrarian reform laws from challenges based on Articles 14, 19, and 31, reflecting the early conflict between property rights and social justice.
4th	1955	Further amended Article 31A and 31(2) to clarify that the adequacy of compensation for acquired property could not be questioned in courts.	Strengthened the state's power to acquire property for public purposes and limited judicial scrutiny over compensation, intensifying the legislative-judicial tussle.
17th	1964	Added more land reform acts to the Ninth Schedule to protect them from judicial review.	Continued the trend of insulating land reform legislation, further highlighting the constitutional challenges posed by property rights as fundamental rights.
25th	1971	Replaced the word 'compensation' with 'amount' in Article 31(2) and inserted Article 31C, giving primacy to certain Directive Principles over Fundamental Rights (Articles 14, 19, 31).	A direct legislative response to the Golak Nath judgment, aiming to overcome judicial interpretation of 'compensation' and assert Parliament's power to implement socialist policies.
29th	1972	Placed two Kerala Land Reforms Acts in the Ninth Schedule.	Another instance of using the Ninth Schedule to protect specific land reform laws, demonstrating the ongoing struggle to implement agrarian reforms.
42nd	1976	Made sweeping changes, including attempts to place constitutional amendments beyond judicial review and giving primacy to Directive Principles over Fundamental Rights (Article 31C expanded).	While not directly removing property rights, it reflected the government's strong desire to overcome judicial impediments to its policies, setting the stage for the post-Emergency corrections.
44th	1978	Deleted Article 19(1)(f) and Article 31, and inserted Article 300A, making the right to property a legal right instead of a fundamental right.	The most significant amendment concerning property rights, fundamentally altering its constitutional status and resolving the long-standing conflict between individual property rights and state's socio-economic objectives.