a. Legal right available to citizens only

b. Legal right available to any person

c. Fundamental Rights available to citizens only

d. Neither Fundamental Rights nor legal rights

Answer- b

Explanation:

Right to property was a fundamental right enshrined in Articles 19 (1)(f) and 31. Article 31 went through a number of amendments and ultimately by the enactment of the 44th Amendment to the Constitution of India and with deletion of Article 19(1)(f), the right to property has been characterised as a constitutional right under Article 300-A.

This Article 300-A provides that no person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law. Resultantly, it is now a constitutional right available both to citizens and non-citizens, natural persons as well as legal persons such as corporations.  The law depriving a person of his property may not have immunity against the challenge of Fundamental Rights without the insertion of the same in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.

Prior to enactment of Article 300-A, an aggrieved person could move the Supreme Court under Article 32 or High Courts under Article 226, whenever his right to property was infringed; however, with the change in the status of this right, the appropriate remedy for the aggrieved citizens is now confined to moving either the High Court under Article 226 through the phrase “any other purpose” or civil courts.

Hence, option b is correct. 

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