Constitutional Law
CLAT PG tests Constitutional Law as doctrine plus reasoning: the text of the Constitution, the amendment power, and the analytical moves in leading Supreme Court judgments. Questions reward precise article numbers and the ratio of a case, not slogan-level recall.
Core framework
- Article 12 defines State for Part III; Article 13 voids inconsistent pre-constitution and post-constitution law, subject to Article 13(4) and the basic structure.
- Article 14 permits reasonable classification only with (i) intelligible differentia and (ii) rational nexus to the object. Arbitrariness is a separate vice (E.P. Royappa; Maneka Gandhi).
- Article 19 freedoms are subject to clauses 19(2)–19(6); a restriction must be by law, for a listed purpose, and proportionate (K.S. Puttaswamy, 2017).
- Article 21 now includes due process, privacy, dignity, speedy trial and a clean environment; Maneka Gandhi (1978) linked Articles 14, 19 and 21.
- Article 32 is itself a fundamental right; Article 226 is wider but discretionary.
- Article 368 amendment power is subject to the basic structure (Kesavananda Bharati, 1973): supremacy of the Constitution, democracy, secularism, federalism, separation of powers, judicial review and free and fair elections.
Worked example
A State law reserves 70% of MBBS seats in private unaided colleges for domicile residents. Article 15(5) allows reservation in private institutions, including unaided ones, for socially and educationally backward classes, SCs and STs, but not minority institutions under Article 30(1). Domicile alone is not a permissible marker: Pradeep Jain v. Union of India (1984) disapproved residence-based reservation in medical admissions, permitting only limited institutional preference. The law therefore fails Article 14 unless the classification serves a legitimate object with a rational nexus and is proportionate.
Marks-losing traps
- Treating Directive Principles as directly enforceable.
- Saying Article 32 is wider than Article 226.
- Forgetting that Article 15(5) excludes minority institutions.
- Answering Article 368 questions without the basic structure doctrine.