Can Private Property Be Taken Over For "Common Good"? Supreme Court Says...
NDTV
The bench asked can it be said Article 39 (b) will have no application once properties are privately held ones because the society demands welfare measures and there was a need for redistribution of wealth as well.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said the Constitution intended to bring about a "sense of social transformation" and it would be "dangerous" to say that the private property of an individual cannot be regarded as material resources of community and taken over by state authorities to subserve "common good".
The observations were made by a nine-judge bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, examining whether privately-owned resources can be considered "material resources of the community", when the counsel for parties including the Property Owners Association (POA) of Mumbai made vehement submissions that the private properties cannot be taken over by state authorities under the garb of constitutional schemes of Articles 39 (b) and 31 C of the Constitution.
The bench is considering the vexed legal question arising from the petitions whether private properties can be considered "material resources of the community" under Article 39 (b) of the Constitution, which is part of the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP).
