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(d) of the first clause. Clause (5) covers sub-cls. (e) and (f ) of the first clause also, but the additional fact does not concern us. Of these, cl. (2), as it stands today, was not originally in the Constitution but was substituted with retrospective effect by s. 3 of the Constitution (First Amendment) Act 1951. Strictly speaking there never was any clause (2) other than the one we have before us today unless we were to hold that the first Amendment was either not valid or not retrospective. We were invited to do so and to reconsider,, the decision in I. C. Golak Nath & Ors. v. State of Punjab & Anr.(1) but we declined because its validity was not doubted at any stage in that case. The valdity of the Amendment therefore cannot now be questioned. As a result we are not required to read the former cl. (2) which never existed. Clauses (2), (3) and (4) were further amended by the insertion of the words"The sovereignty and integrity of India" in each of them, by S. 2 of the Constitution (Sixteenth Amendment) Act 1963. The clauses as they exist today read "(2) Nothing in sub-clause (a) of clause (1) shall affect the operation of any existing law, or prevent the State from making any law, in so far as such law imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub-clause in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.

"The original clause (2) had to be read on the commence- ment of the Constitutionand it was as follows (2) Nothing in sub-clause (a) of clause (1) shall affect the operation of any existing law in so far as it relates, or prevent the State from making any law ,relating to, libel, slander, defamation, contempt of 'Court or any matter which offends against decency or morality or which undermines the security of or tends to overthrow, the State. This clause did not allow restrictions to be placed in the interests of public order on which the impugned provisions are justified today.

He referred also to the Public Order Act 1936 in England.. Subbarao, J. however, distinguished the American and English precedents observing :

"But in India under Art. 19 (2) this wide concept of 'Public order' is split up under different heads. It (1) [1950] S.C.R. 605.
(2) (1940) 310 U.S. 296.

7 24 enables the imposition of reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right to freedom of speech and expression in the interests of the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence. All the grounds mentioned therein can be brought under the general head 'public order' in its most comprehensive sense. But the juxtaposition of the different grounds indicates that, though sometimes they tend to overlap, they must be ordinarily intended to exclude each other. 'Public order' is there- fore something which is demarcated from the others. In that limited sense, particularly in view of the history of the amendment, it can be postulated that 'public order' is synonymous with public peace, safety and tranquility".