Kesavananda Bharati, the seer of Edneer Mutt whose property rights case in the Supreme Court in 1973 helped define basic rights under the Constitution, died early Sunday at his ashram in Kasaragod, north Kerala. He was 79 years old.
Bharati had filed a case in defiance of the 1972 Constitution (Amendment 29) Act, challenging the Kerala government’s decision to seize the property of the stray dog.
It came at a time when the government led by Indira Gandhi had made changes to amendments 24, 25, 26 and 29 of the Constitution so that the court would rule in favor of the government in cases of bank nationalization and private purses.
Lead attorney Nani Palkhivala fought the case for Bharati, a fervent follower of the Advaita philosophy, in which the then Chief Justice of India, Sarv Mitra Sikri, formed a panel of 12 judges to preside over the case. The Constitutional court rendered a 7-6 verdict in which Parliament cannot alter the basic structure of the Constitution.
The case of Kesavananda Bharati is known as a landmark case and many legal luminaries hailed him as the savior of the Constitution.
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