APPENDIX
THE CONSTITUTION (FOURTH AMENDMENT)
ACT, 1955
'An Act further to amend the Constitution of India
[27th April, 1955.]
BE it enacted by Parliament in the Sixth Year of the Republic of India as follows:-
Short title.
1. This Act may be called the Constitution (Fourth Amendment) Act, 1955.
Amendment of article 31.
2. In article 31 of the Constitution, for clause (2), the following clauses shall be substituted, namely:—
"(2) No property shall be compulsorily acquired or requisitioned save for a public purpose and save by authority of a law which provides for compensation for the property so acquired or acquisitioned and either fixes the amount of the compensation or specifies the principles on which, and the manner in which, the compensation is to be determined and given; and no such law shall be called in question in any court on the ground that the compensation provided by that law is not adequate.
(2A) Where a law does not provide for the transfer of the ownership or right to possession of any property to the State or to a corporation owned or controlled by the State, it shall not be deemed to provide for the compulsory acquisition or requisitioning of property, notwithstanding that it deprives any person of his property."
Amendment of article 31A.
3. In article 31A of the Constitution,—
(a) for clause (1), the following clause shall be, and shall be deemed always to have been substituted, namely:-
"(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in article 13, no law providing for—
- (a) the acquisition by the State of any estate or of any rights therein or the extinguishment or modification of any such rights, or
- (b) the taking over of the management of any property by the State for a limited period either in the public interest or in order to secure the proper management of the property, or
- (c) the amalgamation of two or more corporations either in the public interest or in order to secure the proper management of any of the corporations, or
- (d) the extinguishment or modification of any rights of managing agents, secretaries and treasurers, managing directors, directors or managers of corporations, or of any voting rights of shareholders thereof, or
196
