These Petitions raise the common question whether the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951, which was recently passed by the present provisional Parliament to insert, inter alia,Arts. 31A and 31B in the Constitution of India is ultra vires and unconstitutional.
The main arguments advanced in support of the petitions may be summarised as follows :
First, the power of amending the Constitution conferred on the two Houses of Parliament as a designated body and, therefore, the provisional Parliament was not competent to exercise that power under Art 379:
Second, the Amendment Act, violates the rights conferred by Part. III of the Constitution, and falls within the prohibition of Art. 13 (2) and is therefore void:
Third, as the newly inserted Arts. 31A and 31B seek to make changes in Arts 132 and 136 in Ch. 4 of Part. V and Art. 226 in Ch. 5 of Part VI, they require ratification under cl. (b) of the proviso to Art. 368 of State Legislatures, and not having been so ratified, they are void and unconstitutional.
Art 379. (1) Until both Houses of Parliament have been duly constituted and summoned to meet for the first session under the provisions of this Constitution, the body functioning as the Constituent Assembly of the Dominion of India immediately before the commencement of this Constitution shall be the provisional Parliament and shall exercise all the powers and perform all the duties conferred by the provisions of this Constitution on Parliament.

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