Govt can't take over all private properties: SC

The ruling may impact policies aimed at wealth distribution

- BHAVINI MISHRA

Not every resource owned by a person can be considered a "material resource of community" to be used for "common good," the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.

The judgment, therefore, ensures that policies aimed at wealth distribution must be carefully crafted to avoid sweeping or indiscriminate appropriations of private assets without a clear benefit to the community.

In a majority judgment by a nine-judge Bench, the court stated that private properties are not part of "the material resources of the community" which the State is obliged to equitably redistribute as per the Directive Principles of State Policy under Article 39(b) of the Constitution.

"The interpretation of Article 39(b), both as a precursor to the protection of Article 31C and as an aspirational Directive Principle, cannot run counter to the constitutional recognition of private property. To hold that all private property is covered by the phrase 'material resources of the community' and that the ultimate aim is state control of private resources would be incompatible with the constitutional protection detailed above," it said.

Article 31C protects laws enacted to ensure the "material resources of the community" are distributed for common good. It was inserted by the 25th Amendment Act of 1971.

Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices Hrishikesh Roy, JB Pardiwala, Manoj Misra, Rajesh Bindal, Satish Chandra Sharma, and Augustine George Masih gave the Bench's majority opinion.

However, Justice B V Nagarathna partially concurred, and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia dissented.