With reference to the Constitution of India, consider the following statements

Q. With reference to the Constitution of India, consider the following statements:

1. No High Court shall have the jurisdiction to declare any central law to be constitutionally invalid.
2. An amendment to the Constitution of India cannot be called into question by the Supreme Court of India.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: Neither 1 nor 2

• Only the Supreme Court of India has the power to declare a law 'unconstitutional' for the whole country. For instance, the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India struck down Section 66A of Information Technology Act of 2000 in Shreya Singhal Vs. Union of India (2015).
• Amending the Constitution of India is the process of making changes to the nation's fundamental law or supreme law. The procedure of amendment in the constitution is laid down in Part XX (Article 368) of the Constitution of India. This procedure ensures the sanctity of the Constitution of India and keeps a check on the arbitrary power of the Parliament of India.
• However, there is another limitation imposed on the amending power of the constitution of India, which developed during conflicts between the Supreme Court and Parliament, where Parliament wants to exercise discretionary use of power to amend the constitution while the Supreme Court wants to restrict that power. This has led to the laying down of various doctrines or rules in regard to checking the validity/legality of an amendment, the most famous among them is the Basic structure doctrine as laid down by the Supreme Court in the case of Kesavananda Bharati v. the State of Kerala.