6.23.1. Controversy with respect to IX Schedule

The Ninth Schedule was created by a Constitution Amendment in 1951 by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to push land reforms. The basic purpose of the Schedule was to abolish zamindari system. However, in recent times it has been misused. Not just land reforms laws, the Ninth Schedule today includes several controversial legislation like the 69 per cent reservation law of Tamil Nadu, which violates the Apex Court's 50 per cent ceiling on quotas.

Article 31B, which gives blanket protection to all items in the 9th Schedule, is also retrospective in nature. So, even if a statute, which has already been declared unconstitutional by a court of law is included within the schedule, it is deemed to be constitutional from the date of its inception.

However, in IR Coehlo case (2007), the Apex Court ruled that laws placed under Ninth Schedule after April 24, 1973 (the date of Kesavananda Bharati verdict) shall be open to challenge in court if they violated fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 19, 20 and 21 of the Constitution. The apex court also said that if the law put in the Ninth Schedule abridges or abrogates fundamental rights resulting in the violation of the basic structure of the Constitution, such laws have to be invalidated.