The Ninth Schedule to the Indian Constitution was added by the First Amendment

The Ninth Schedule, which finds itself under debate after the Supreme Court judgment on January 11, 2007, was added to the Constitution in 1951, primarily to deal with a situation in which the Supreme Court struck down land reform laws.

In order to remove all such land reform laws from being struck down on the ground that compensation was inadequate or on any other ground, Parliament amended the Constitution to create the Ninth Schedule.

Article 31B of the Constitution stated that any law in the Ninth Schedule could not be challenged in the courts. The perception quite clearly then was that the judiciary was the last bastion of vested interests and hence the role of the judiciary in striking down such laws had to be taken away.

This was a progressive measure and a look at the Acts inserted in the Ninth Schedule over the years shows that all land reform laws were put in the Ninth Schedule making them beyond challenge of the Supreme Court.