Can Government Seize, Redistribute Private Property? Supreme Court Says...

"It may be a little extreme to suggest that 'material resources of the community' only means public resources and we do not have their origin in the private property of an individual. I will tell you why it would be dangerous to take that view."

"Take simple things like mines and even private forests. For instance, for us to say that the governmental policy will not apply to the private forests under Article 39 (b)... therefore keep the hands off. It will be extremely dangerous as a proposition," said the bench which also comprised justices Hrishikesh Roy, B V Nagarathna, Sudhanshu Dhulia, J B Pardiwala, Manoj Misra, Rajesh Bindal, Satish Chandra Sharma and Augustine George Masih.

Referring to social and other prevalent situations in the 1950s when the Constitution was made, the bench said, "The Constitution was intended to bring about social transformation and we cannot say that Article 39 (b) has no application once the property is privately held." It said whether the Maharashtra law, empowering authorities to take over dilapidated buildings, was valid or not was a completely different issue and would be decided independently.

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 CJI referred to the abolition of 'Zamindari' and the purely capitalist concept of property also and said it attributed a sense of "exclusiveness" to property.

"The socialist concept of property is the mirror image which attributes to property, a notion of commonality. Nothing is exclusive to the individual. All property is common to the community. That's the extreme socialist view," the CJI said, adding that the DPSPs have their foundation in the Gandhian ethos.

"And what is that ethos? Our ethos regards property as something which we hold in trust. We don't go as far as to adopt the socialistic model that there is no private property..."