'Laws inconsistent with or in derogation of the Fundamental Rights shall be void' is provided under:

Article 13 is the first substantive provision of Part III of the Constitution after the definition of "State" in Article 12. It makes the Fundamental Rights justiciable and protects them from being violated by laws.

Article 13 contains four main provisions:

• Article 13(1): all laws in force in India before the commencement of the Constitution (pre-constitutional laws) shall be void to the extent that they are inconsistent with the Fundamental Rights.
• Article 13(2): the State shall not make any law that takes away or abridges the Fundamental Rights; any law made in contravention of this shall be void to the extent of the contravention.
• Article 13(3): defines "law" broadly to include ordinances, orders, bye-laws, rules, regulations, notifications, customs and usages having the force of law.
• Article 13(4): added by the 24th Amendment (1971), says that nothing in this Article applies to an amendment of the Constitution made under Article 368.

Article 13 is the main basis for judicial review in India, the power of the Supreme Court (under Article 32) and the High Courts (under Article 226) to examine laws and declare them unconstitutional if they violate Fundamental Rights.

Two important doctrines are linked with Article 13:

• Doctrine of severability: only the part of a law that violates Fundamental Rights is declared void, not the whole law, if the remaining part can stand on its own.
• Doctrine of eclipse: a pre-constitutional law that violates Fundamental Rights is not dead but becomes dormant ("eclipsed"); it can revive if the conflict is removed by a constitutional amendment.
• In the Kesavananda Bharati case (1973), the Supreme Court held that even constitutional amendments can be struck down if they violate the "basic structure" of the Constitution.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Article 12 defines the term "State" for Part III.
• ✗Article 32 gives the right to constitutional remedies in the Supreme Court.
• ✗Article 368 deals with the power of Parliament to amend the Constitution.