Golaknath v State of Punjab

Golaknath v State of Punjab was a 1967 decision of the Supreme Court of India holding, by a six to five majority, that Parliament could not amend Part III of the Constitution, which guarantees fundamental rights, because a constitutional amendment counted as law for this purpose and no law could abridge or take away a fundamental right. The ruling reversed the Court's own earlier position that had allowed such amendments. Parliament responded with the Twenty Fourth Amendment of 1971, which asserted its power to amend any part of the Constitution including fundamental rights, and the Supreme Court itself effectively superseded Golaknath in Kesavananda Bharati v State of Kerala (1973), holding that Parliament could amend fundamental rights but could not alter the Constitution's basic structure.