No 139 of 1957
Petition under article 32 of the Constitution of India for enforcement of Fundamental rights
R V section Mani for the petitioner
689 C K Daphtary Solicitor General of India B Sen and R H Dhebar for respondent No 2 1961
March 30
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by WANCHOO J
This petition challenges the constitutionality of a provision in the Constitution Application to Jammu and Kashmir Order 1954 hereinafter called the Order made by the President under article 3701 of the Constitution
The case of the petitioner is that he is registered as an elector in the Parliamentary Constituency of Delhi
As such he has a right to stand for election from any Parliamentary constituency in India
Six seats are allotted to the State of Jammu and Kashmir in the House of the People Lok Sabha
Ordinarily the election to these seats should have been by direct election from the territorial constituencies in the States as provided by article 81l but the President modified that Article in so far as it relates to the State of Jammu and Kashmir by Para
5c of the Order in these words Article 81 shall apply subject to the modification that the representatives of the State in the House of the People hall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Legislature of the State The petitioner contends that the President had exceeded his powers when he made this modification for he thereby substituted direct election to the House of the People by nomination which he could not do
This it is said was alteration in article 81 as applied to the State of Jammu and Kashmir and was not justified as a modification under article 370l
He therefore prays that the modification made may be declared unconstitutional and a writ of quo warranto be issued against the persons nominated to the House of the People on the recommendation of the Legislature of the State of Jammu and Kashmir prohibiting them from acting as members of Parliament
Apart from the question whether the petitioner has any fundamental right to maintain this petition under 87 690 article 32 we are of opinion that there is no force in it
The relevant part of article 370 with which we are concerned is in these words Notwithstanding anything in this Constitu tion        d such of the other provisions of this Constitution shall apply in relation to that State ie the State of Jammu and Kashmir subject to such exceptions and modifications as the President may by order specify
 Article 370 clearly recognises the special position of the State of Jammu and Kashmir and that is why the President is given the power to apply the provisions of the Constitution to that State subject to such exceptions and modifications as the President may by order specify
The President thus has power to say by order that certain provisions of the Constitution will be excepted from application to the State of Jammu and Kashmir and on such order being made those provisions would not apply to that State
Besides this power of making exceptions by which certain provisions of the Constitution were not to apply to that State the President is also given the power to apply the provisions of the Constitution with such modifications as he thinks fit to make
The contention on behalf of the petitioner is that the modification envisaged in article 370l did not mean amendment of the Constitution for the purpose of application to that State and would not certainly include such amendment as would make a radical alteration in the provisions of the Constitution
In this connection he relies on the observations of Kania CJ and Mahajan J in In re The 1
Kania CJ after dealing with the meaning of the word  modify seems to have held that the word modify as used in the context in which he was speaking only implied alteration without radical transformation
Mhajan J also said that the word modification Use in the context before him did not involve any material or substantial alteration
The petitioner therefore urges 1  691 that as the Order substituted direct election by nomination there has been a radical alteration in article 81 by the President in its application to the State of Jammu and Kashmir and therefore is not justified by the word modification used in article 370l and the President had exceeded his power under that Article in making this radical alteration
Before we consider what the word modification means in the context of article 370l let us see what the President has actually done in the matter of modification of article 81
The modification prescribes that the six seats in the House of the People from the State of Jammu and Kashmir would be filled by nomination by the President on the recommendation of the Legislature of that State
Now in form the seats will be filled by nomination by the President but in reality what the modification provides is indirect election in place of direct election to these seats in the House of the People
The modification lays down that the President will nominate members to these six seats on the recommendation of the Legislature of the State
The President must therefore nominate only those who have been recommended by the Legislature of the State which is elected on adult suffrage
Now the only way the Legislature can make a recommendation for this purpose is by voting
Therefore in effect the modification made by the President is that the six seats to the House of the People from the State of Jammu and Kashmir will be filled by indirect election and not by direct election
The element of election still remains in the matter of filling these seats though it has been made indirect
In these circumstances it may not be possible to say that there has been a radical alteration in article 81 by the modification effected by the Order
But even assuming that the introduction of indirect election by this modification is a radical alteration of the provisions of article 81l the question still remains whether such a modification is justified by the word modification as used in article 3701
We are here dealing with the provision of a Constitution which cannot be interpreted in any narrow or pedantic sense 692 The question that came for consideration in In re Delhi Laws Act case  was with respect to the power of delegation to a subordinate authority in making subordinate legislation
It was in that context that the observations were made that the intention of the law there under consideration when it used the word modification was that the Central Government would extend certain laws to Part C States without any radical alteration in them
But in the present case we have to find out the meaning Of the word modification used in article 370l in the context of the Constitution
As we have said already the object behind enacting article 370l was to recognise the special position of the State of Jammu and Kashmir and to provide for that special position by giving power to the President to apply the provisions of the Constitution to that State with such exceptions and modifications as the President might by order specify
We have already pointed out that the power to make exceptions implies that the President can provide that a particular provision of the Constitution would not apply to that State
If therefore the power is given to the President to efface in effect any provision of the Constitution altogether in its application to the State of Jammu and Kashmir it seems that when he is also given the power to make modifications that power should be considered in its widest possible amplitude
If be could efface a particular provision of the Constitution altogether in its application to the State of Jammu and Kashmir we see no reason to think that the Constitution did not intend that he should have the power to amend a particular provision in its application to the State of Jammu and Kashmir
It seems to us that when the Constitution used the word modification in article 370l the intention was that the President would have the power to amend the provisions of the Constitution if he so thought fit in their application to the State of Jammu and Kashmir
In the Oxford English Dictionary Vol
VI the word modify means inter alia to make partial changes in to change as object in 693 respect of some of its qualities to alter or vary without radical transformation
Similarly the word modification means the action of making changes in an object without altering its essential nature or character the state of being thus changed partial alteration
Stress is being placed on the meaning to alter or vary without radical transformation on behalf of the petitioner but that is not the only meaning of the words modify or modification
The word modify also means to make partial changes in and modification means partial alteration
If therefore the President changed the method of direct election to indirect election he was in essence making a partial change or partial alteration in article 81 and therefore the modification made in the present case would be even within the dictionary meaning of that word
But in law the word modify has even a wider meaning
In Words and Phrases by Roland Burrows the primary meaning of the word modify is given as to limit or restrict but it also means  to vary and may even mean to extend or enlarge
Thus in law the word modify may just mean vary ie amend and when article 370l says that the President may apply the provisions of the Constitution to the State of Jammu and Kashmir with such modifications as he may by order specify it means that he may vary ie amend the provisions of the Constitution in its application to the State of Jammu and Kashmir
We are therefore of opinion that in the context of the Constitution we must give the widest effect to the meaning of the word modification used in article 370l and in that sense it includes an amendment
There is no reason to limit the word modifications as used in article 3701 only to such modifications as do not make any radical transformation
We are therefore of opinion that the President had the power to make the modification which he did in article 81 of the Constitution
The petition therefore fails and is hereby dismissed with costs
Petition dismissed


Summary:
Six seats are allotted to the State of Jammu and Kashmir in the House of People Lok Sabha and election to those seats should ordinarily have been by direct election under article 811 of the Constitution but the President modified that Article under article 3701 by Para
5c of the Constitution Application to Jammu and Kashmir Order 1954 to the effect that the representatives of the State in the House of People shall be appointed by the President on the recommendations of the Legislature of the State
The petitioner who claimed to be a registered elector and as such eligible for election from any Parliamentary constituency in India contended that the President had exceeded his powers when he made this modification for he thereby substituted direct election to the House of People by nomination which he could not do and that the said modi fication amounted to radical alteration in article 81 and was not justified under article 3701
Held that the word modification used in article 370I must be given the widest meaning in the context of the Consti tution and in that sense it includes an amendment and it cannot be limited to such modifications as do not make any radical transformation
The modification lays down that the President will make the nomination on the recommendation of the State Legislature which can do so only by voting and in effect it provides that the seats will be filled by indirect election and not direct election
The element of election being thus still present there was no radical alteration in article 81 and the President had the power to make the modification which he did
In re    distinguished