Fundamental Rights
(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in article 13, no law providing for - (a) the acquisition by the State of any estate or of any rights therein or the extinguishment or modification of any such rights, or (b) the taking over of the management of any property by the State for a limited period either in the public interest or in order to secure the proper management of the property, or (c) the amalgamation of two or more corporations either in the public interest or in order to secure the proper management of any of the corporations, or (d) the extinguishment or modification of any rights of managing agents, secretaries and treasurers, managing directors, directors or managers of corporations, or of any voting rights of shareholders thereof, or (e) the extinguishment or modification of any rights accruing by virtue of any agreement, lease or licence for the purpose of searching for, or winning, any mineral or mineral oil, or the premature termination or cancellation of any such agreement, lease or licence, shall be deemed to be void on the ground that it is inconsistent with, or takes away or abridges any of the rights conferred by article 14 or article 19: Provided that where such law is a law made by the Legislature of a State, the provisions of this article shall not apply thereto unless such law, having been reserved for the consideration of the President, has received his assent. (2) In this article, "estate" and "rights" are given specific technical meanings relating to land tenure systems, intermediary interests (jagir, inam, ryotwari land, etc.) and revenue rights.
This article shields land reform laws - like abolishing the zamindari (landlord) system or taking over agricultural estates for redistribution - from being struck down merely because they conflict with the equality (Article 14) or freedom (Article 19) rights of large landowners. It was added because early land reform laws faced repeated court challenges from landowners citing their Fundamental Rights, which threatened to stall redistribution efforts entirely.
When a state government's land ceiling law took surplus agricultural land from large landowners to redistribute to landless farmers, affected landowners argued it violated their equality and property rights - Article 31A protects such land reform laws from being struck down on that specific basis.