Question

Directions: The question consists of two statements, one labelled as 'Assertion' (A) and the other as 'Reason' (R). Examine these two statements carefully and select the correct answer.

Assertion (A): The state shall not make any law, which takes away or abridges the rights conferred by Part III (Fundamental Rights) and any law made in contravention of this clause shall, to the extent of the contravention, be void.

Reason (R): The fundamental rights are the rights reserved by the people and for this reason they are eternal and sacrosanct.

• A. Both A and R are individually true and R is the correct explanation of A.
• B. Both A and R are individually true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
• C. A is true but R is false.
• D. A is false but R is true.

Hint:

Statement A is Article 13(2) restated. Test the word "eternal" in R against Article 368 and against the deletion of the fundamental right to property in 1978.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
Statement A is a paraphrase of a constitutional provision. Statement R makes a claim about the nature of fundamental rights. Test each for truth first.

Step 2: Testing statement A:
Article 13(2) says the State shall not make any law which takes away or abridges the rights conferred by Part III, and any law made in contravention of that clause shall, to the extent of the contravention, be void.
A reproduces that text almost word for word, so A is true.
Notice the phrase "to the extent of the contravention". Only the offending part of the law falls, which is the doctrine of severability.

Step 3: Testing statement R:
R has two halves. The first half, that fundamental rights are reserved by the people, is a fair description of the Preamble's idea that the people gave the Constitution to themselves.
The second half claims the rights are eternal and sacrosanct. This is where R breaks down.
Fundamental rights can be amended under Article 368. The Twenty Fourth Amendment settled that Article 13 does not bar a constitutional amendment. Kesavananda Bharati held that fundamental rights are amendable, subject only to the basic structure of the Constitution.
The right to property was itself a fundamental right and was removed from Part III by the Forty Fourth Amendment in 1978. A right that can be deleted is plainly not eternal.
Fundamental rights are also not absolute. Reasonable restrictions apply to Article 19, and most rights can be suspended or curtailed during an Emergency under Articles 358 and 359.
So R is false.

Step 4: Fitting the answer:
A is true and R is false, which matches option (C). Once R is false, the question of whether it explains A never arises.

Step 5: Why the other options fail:
Options (A) and (B) both need R to be true, and it is not.
Option (D) calls A false, but A is a direct restatement of Article 13(2).

Step 6: Final Answer:
Article 13(2) binds ordinary law making, but fundamental rights are amendable and not eternal, so the reason is wrong.
\[ \boxed{\text{Option (C)}} \]