Ninth Constitutional Amendment Act 1960 – Indian Polity – Free PDF Download

STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS

• Agreements  between  the Governments of India and Pakistan dated  10th September,  1958, 23rd October, 1959, and 11th January, 1960,  settled certain  boundary  disputes  between  the  Governments  of   India  and Pakistan
• relating  to the borders of the States of Assam, Punjab  and West Bengal, and the Union territory of Tripura.
• According  to  these  agreements,   certain   territories  are  to   be transferred  to  Pakistan  after  demarcation.
• In the   light  of  the Advisory  Opinion of the Supreme Court in Special Reference No.  1  of 1959,  it is proposed to amend the First Schedule to the  Constitution under  a  law relatable to article 368 thereof to give effect  to  the transfer of theses territories.

Nehru Noon Agreement 1958

• Both of them decided to exchange the territories
• Berubari Union 12 to be divided horizontally
• Enclave for Enclave to be done, to avoid any territorial loss

Ninth Amendment Act, 1960

• • After the Nehru-Noon agreement was signed between India and Pakistan to divide the territory of Berubari Union, the Government of West Bengal opposed it.
  • After this Union referred the matter to SC which held that the power of Parliament to diminish the area of a state (under Article 3) does not cover cession of Indian territory to a foreign country.

Judgement

• Preamble is not part of Constitution
• Article 1(3)(c ) only talks about acquiring the territories and not ceding any territory
• Article 368 gives power to amend the constitution, hence Article 1 can be amended by parliament
• But, amendment has to be brought vide article 368, only then land can be ceded to East Pakistan

Judgement’s Impact

• Hence, Indian territory can be ceded to a foreign state only by amending the Constitution under Article 368.
• Consequently, the 9th Constitutional Amendment Act (1960) was enacted.

Amendments:

• Facilitated the cession of the Indian territory of Berubari Union (located in West Bengal) to Pakistan as provided in the Indo-Pakistan Agreement (1958).

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