What is importance of preamble in interpretation of constitution of India?

There is no doubt that the declaration made by the people of India in exercise of their sovereign will in the preamble to the Constitution is, in the words of Story, "a key to open the mind of the makers" which may show the general purposes for which they made the several provisions in the Constitution; but nevertheless the preamble is not a part of the Constitution, and, as Willoughby has observed about the preamble to the American Constitution, "it has never been regarded as the source of any substantive power conferred on the Government of the United States, or on any of its departments. Such powers embrace only those expressly granted in the body of the Constitution and such as may be implied from those so granted".

Supreme Court of India

In Re: The Berubari Union And ... vs Unknown on 14 March, 1960

Equivalent citations: AIR 1960 SC 845, 1960 3 SCR 250

Bench: B Sinha, A S Shah, K Dasgupta, K S Rao, M Hidayatullah, P Gajendragadkar, S Das

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