Consider the following statements:

1. The 44th Amendment to the Constitution of India introduced an Article placing the election of the Prime Minister beyond judicial review.

2. The Supreme Court of India struck down the 99th Amendment to the Constitution of India as being violative of the independence of judiciary.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Correct Answer: 2 only

Let us analyze each of the given statements step-by-step to evaluate their correctness:

Analysis of Statement 1:

Statement 1 claims that the 44th Amendment to the Constitution of India placed the election of the Prime Minister beyond judicial review.

This statement is incorrect. It was actually the 39th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1975 (and not the 44th Amendment) that was enacted during the Emergency to place the election of the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, and Speaker of the Lok Sabha beyond judicial review. Later, the 44th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1978 repealed many provisions introduced during the Emergency, including restoring judicial review over these elections. Therefore, Statement 1 is false.

Analysis of Statement 2:

Statement 2 claims that the Supreme Court of India struck down the 99th Amendment to the Constitution of India as being violative of the independence of the judiciary.

This statement is correct. The 99th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2014, along with the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, 2014, sought to replace the collegium system for appointing judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts with a new body called the National Judicial Appointments Commission.

In October 2015, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, in the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India case (popularly known as the Fourth Judges Case), struck down both the 99th Constitutional Amendment and the NJAC Act by a 4:1 majority, declaring them unconstitutional and void as they violated the basic structure of the Constitution, specifically the independence of the judiciary. Thus, Statement 2 is true.

Conclusion:

Since Statement 1 is incorrect and Statement 2 is correct, the correct choice is 2 only.