Supreme CourtImage Credit Source: PTI
Can the government take over the private property of an individual or community on behalf of society under Article 39 (B) of the Constitution? The Supreme Court has ruled on this important issue. A larger nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court said in its major decision Tuesday that the government cannot use all private property unless public interests are involved.
Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and a nine-judge bench gave their verdict in the case by majority. The court also by a majority rejected Justice Krishna Iyer’s earlier decision. Justice Iyer’s earlier judgment had said that all privately owned resources can be acquired by the State. He says that the old regime was inspired by a particular economic and socialist ideology.
Along with this, the Supreme Court annulled those decisions after 1978 in which the socialist theme was adopted and ruled that the State can seize all private property for the common good.
CJI Chandrachud said that some decisions are wrong because all the personal resources of an individual are the material resources of the community. The court’s role is not to determine economic policy, but to facilitate the establishment of economic democracy.
