On Monday (5th November), the Supreme Court of India ruled that the state cannot redistribute all privately owned properties.
In a 8:1 majority verdict, the apex court held that some private properties may fall under the ambit of ‘material resources of the community’, which the State is obligated to redistribute equitably under Article 39(B) of the Constitution.
The Supreme Court overturned a 1978 judgment, which claimed that ‘material resources of the community’ covered all natural, man-made, public, and privately owned resources.
CJI D Y Chandrachud led bench ruled that Justice Krishna Iyer's 1978 ruling – all properties of private individuals can be termed community property -advanced socialist economic ideology, hence unsustainable. However, it said some pvt property could be termed community property.
— Dhananjay Mahapatra (@toi_dhananjayM) November 5, 2024
The outgoing Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, who wrote the majority judgment, stated, “The phrase may include privately owned resources…Not every resource owned by an individual can be considered a material resource of the community merely because it meets the qualifier of material needs.”
The majority verdict also stated that the 1978 ruling was based on a particular economic ideology of the Judges, although the makers of the Consitution did not bind the country to any economic dogma.
The Supreme Court unanimously upheld that Article 31C to the extent it remained in force in Keshavanand Bharti case.
