Basic Structure doctrine

#GS-02 Judiciary

Constitution under Article 368 grants power to the Parliament to amend the constitution in case of a necessity.
The doctrine of basic structure is an Indian judicial innovation to maintain the integrity of the constitution and to ensure that the power of amendment is not misused by Parliament.
Basic Structure doctrine acts as a limitation on the power of the Parliament to prevent it from turning India into a totalitarian state.
The doctrine does not have a textual basis and is purely a judicial innovation.
The origins of the basic structure doctrine can be found in the post-Nazi German Constitution which was amended to protect some basic laws.
Supreme Court reaffirmed the Basic Structure doctrine in the Minerva mills case.
The basic structure has not yet been fully defined by the Supreme Court as it has continued to enhance it with some new contents from time-to-time.

Some of which are

The Parliament cannot cease to be a creation of the Constitution and become its master.
The basic structure or framework of the Constitution is its living spirit or soul of the Constitution, holding up the body of its text.
Y. Chandrachud, the Chief Justice of India compared the ‘basic structure’ of the Constitution to the North Star, deeming it an unfailing guide which shows the way when the path appears convoluted.
The basic structure of the constitution is inextricably linked to the values enshrined in the Preamble, without which the document and the ideas that make it sacred would collapse.
Granville Austin in his book “Working of a Democratic Constitution” calls the basic structure doctrine as “the bedrock of constitutional interpretation in India”.

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