ABSTRACT

SUBJECT: CONSTITUTIONAL LAW I

TOPIC: ARTICLE 14

EQUALITY BEFORE LAW

Article 14 -18 of Indian Constitution, guarantees the right to equality to every citizen of India.

Article 14 deals with the general principle of equality before law and prohibits unreasonable

Discrimination.

Article 15, 16, 17 and 18 deals with specific applications of the general rules laid down in Article
14.

ARTICLE 14: EQAULITY

The Article 14 declares that .The state shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the
equal protection of the laws within the territory of India. Therefore Article 14 uses two
expressions “Equality before law” and “Equal protection of the law”.

The state shall not deny to any person equality before law and equal protection of laws within
the territory of India.

Equality before law

It is a concept implying absence of any special privilege by reason of birth or creed or the like in
favour of any individual and also the equal subject of all individuals and classes to the ordinary
law of the land .

Rule of law: The absolute supremacy or the predominance of regular law as opposed to the
influence of arbitrariness and excludes the existence of arbitrary power or prerogative or even
wide discretionary powers on the part of government.
Factors of rule of law

1. Supremacy of law
Indira gandhi v. Rajnarain
Rule of law is a basic structure of constitution
2. Equality before law
Every one are equal before law
3. Judiciary grants rights

General Exceptions for rule of law

1. The liberals who focus their attention on ways of protecting liberty in some way and
further avert threats to it often see rule of law as an overarching source of security.

2. Nonetheless, there exists a disagreement among the liberals over what exactly counts as
the faithful application of the term of rule of law and when the concept of rule of law is
pinned down how exactly to accomplish it.

3. It can be stated that rule of law is not a faithful description of any state of affairs but a
complex idea, which becomes even more complex when it comes to the realization of the
same.

4. The independence of judiciary clearly becomes a problem if that independence is misused

for the privilege of such judicial personnel or allowing of unchallenged interpretation of
laws, hence it can be said that such things act in contrary to the principles which the rule
of law tries to enshrine.

5. Critics of the strictly formal conception of rule of law argue that too much attention to
legal process creates significant vices of its own in the form of exaggerated legal theories
and it further tends to neglect the political or real-world dimensions of legal conflicts.

6. Giving excessive importance to the law and the legal proceedings may act as a
disadvantage if a policy proposal or its official mandate is given a green signal even
when there is opposition to the same by many people.
 7. Some writers have expressed that the increasing domain of judges and lawyers and their
encroachment in the areas which were previously left to the politicians and electorate,
results in the loss of much that is politically and democratically considered to be
valuable.

ARTICLE 14 permits CLASSSIFICATION and prohibits CLASS LEGISLATION

Article 14 does not mean that all laws must be general in character or that the same laws should
apply to all persons or that every law must have universal application. This is because all persons
are not, by nature, attainment or circumstances in the same positions. Thus, the State can treat
different persons in differently if circumstances justify such treatment. Further, the identical
treatment in unequal circumstances would amount to inequality.

Thus, there is a necessity of the “reasonable classification” for the society to progress. The
Supreme Court has maintained that Article 14 permits reasonable classification of persons,
objects, transactions by the State for the purpose of achieving specific ends that help in the
development of the society. However, Article 14 forbids “class legislation”. Class legislation
makes an improper discrimination by conferring particular privileges upon class of person.

Principles of natural justice

A. Nemo debet essc judex in propria causa.

B. Audi alterem partem
These two principles are used in Administrative adjudication but not in courts
C. Bias
Can be categorized in three categories namely
pecuniary, (relations, friends etc. matters)
personal, (money matters)
Official. (subject matters)
CASE LAWS

A.K.Kaipak v. Union of India

Madras wine merchants Association v. state of tamil nadu
Aziz basha v. Union of India
Kishan Singh v. State of rajasthan
Ramakrishna dhalmia v. Justice Tendulkar

A.SAI SARAYU
2018007
SEC A