The Supreme Court on Monday, while hearing a public interest litigation seeking to delete the words ‘Socialist’ & ‘Secular’ from the Preamble to the Constitution of India, deliberated on whether the Preamble could have been amended while keeping the date intact.
The Bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta listed the matter for hearing in the week commencing after April 29, 2024, following request of the counsel appearing in connected matter, Balram Singh vs Union of India.
During the course of hearing, Justice Datta noted that it wasn’t the case that the Preamble could not be amended.
He then suggested the counsels to consider from an academic point of view, whether the Preamble could have been amended earlier (by the 42nd Amendment Act in 1976) to include the words socialist and secular, while keeping the date of adoption (November 29, 1949) intact.
He further said the Preamble to the Indian Constitution was perhaps the only Preamble he had seen which came with a date, noting that the two words, socialist and secular, were not there in the Preamble.
One of the counsels then joined in the discussion, saying that this Preamble is coming with a specific date, therefore, amending it without any discussion.