Kesavananda Bharati vs. State of Kerala, a case that became nation’s nerve and its Judgment had set bench mark in the year 1973, and from than every decisions of the Government at the Centre or at the State it influenced with.

The pontiff of Edneer Mutt, who fought the legal battle in the Supreme Court through a Writ Petition in WP [Civil] No. 135/1970 is no more. Kesavananda Bharati has passed away at his Edneer Mutt in Kasargod District yesterday due to heart ailment.

Bharati became a Hindu monk at the age of 19 and who led the Edneer Mutt since than until his demise yesterday. He who challenged the Kerala Land Reforms Act in the Supreme Court, wherein 13 Judges Constitution Bench delivered a verdict by 7:6 and the Judgment led to Basic Doctrine Structure, wherein the Supreme Court held that the Parliament has enormous powers but it cannot modify the basic structure of the Constitution.

Although, the monk could not get relief from the Supreme Court to save his Ashram’s 300 acres of land from the acquisition of the Kerala Government under its land Reforms Act, otherwise, the Judgment brought a thinking in this Country that Parliament was not supreme but it was the Constitution, and the fundamentals embedded in it can never be altered by the former arbitrarily.

However, with the series of amendments followed in 1976, during the period of Emergency, the face of the Constitution tend to change with the time and transformation taken place than in our Country. Today, Kesavananda Bharati vs. State of Kerala case law has become part of Law Schools’ theory and thesis and the Judgment is widely yet vividly discussed by the legal fraternity in the Courts.

Faqsonlaw remembers this icon who moved the Supreme Court to say to the World, the Constitution Basic Structure can never be changed by the Parliament despite latter has retained public mandate.