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Constitution of India · Part XII: Finance, Property, Contracts and Suits · Chapter IV: Right to Property

Article 300A: Persons not to be deprived of property save by authority of law

In plain words

No person can be deprived of their property except by authority of law.

A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.

Read the in-depth explanation, with key Supreme Court rulings ↓

Official text

No person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law.]

Source: India Code (Legislative Department), the official text of the Constitution of India. As amended up to the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023. Text as on 10 September 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.

Understanding this article

Article 300A says no person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law. Since the 44th Amendment in 1978 removed the fundamental right to property, this is a constitutional right, not a fundamental right. Article 32 is not available for it, but the High Courts enforce it under Article 226, and courts have given it real content.

From fundamental right to constitutional right

Articles 19(1)(f) and 31 were repealed in 1978. Property is now protected only by Article 300A, which bars deprivation except by authority of law. Executive action without a law behind it cannot take property.

Authority of law means more than a bare law

The Supreme Court has held that authority of law requires a valid law with fair procedure. It has identified seven procedural sub-rights: notice, a hearing, a reasoned decision, acquisition only for a public purpose, fair compensation, efficient conduct within timelines, and a final conclusion of the process. A power to acquire that lacks these procedures is not a valid power of acquisition.

Compensation

The text does not expressly mention compensation, but the courts have held that a law taking property without compensation must be scrutinised, and acquisition statutes require fair compensation. Land taken without following law must be compensated, and the State cannot plead delay against an owner it deprived without law.

A human right too

The Court has described the right to property as not only a constitutional or statutory right but also a human right.

Key Supreme Court rulings

  • Kolkata Municipal Corporation v. Bimal Kumar Shah (2024) 10 SCC 533

    Interpreting authority of law in Article 300A, the Court held that the minimum content of the right to property comprises seven sub-rights: "the right to notice, hearing, reasons for the decision, to acquire only for public purpose, fair compensation, efficient conduct of the procedure within timelines and finally the conclusion".

  • Vidya Devi v. The State of Himachal Pradesh 2020 INSC 23

    The State took the appellant's land for a road without acquisition proceedings or due process; such forcible dispossession violated Article 300A, and the State was directed to pay compensation.

  • K.T. Plantation Pvt. Ltd. v. State of Karnataka 2011 INSC 554

    A Constitution Bench examined deprivation of property under Article 300A in the context of the Karnataka land reform law and the withdrawal of an exemption.

Common mistakes

  • Calling the right to property a fundamental right today.
  • Filing under Article 32 to enforce Article 300A.
  • Assuming any law authorising acquisition suffices without the procedural sub-rights.

Read with: Article 226 Constitution, Article 31A Constitution

Prepared with AI assistance as a study aid. Every ruling listed was checked against the Supreme Court's own judgments on this site, and quoted words appear in those judgments; linked names open the full judgment. Read the judgments themselves before relying on them. Not legal advice.

Supreme Court judgments citing the article 300A