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FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
PART III

Introduction
• Part III, IV & IV-A, though separate units,
concretise the lofty goals of justice, liberty,
equality, fraternity, and the ‘dignity of the
individual’ set out in the Preamble.
• Imbued in the dominant theories of human
rights we may generally classify these three
parts respectively as :

• Negative obligations of the State not to interfere

with the liberty of an individual;
• Positive obligations of the State to take steps for
the welfare of the individual;
&
• The duties of an individual to society and fellow
individuals.

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Fundamental Rights(FR’s)?
• The FR’s are meant for promoting the ideal of political
democracy. They prevent the establishment of an
authoritarian and despotic rule.
• The FR’s operate as limitations on the tyranny of the
executive and arbitrary laws of the legislature.
• In short, they aim at establishing ‘a government of
laws and not of men’.

Rights

Constitutional Rights
Statutory Rights

1. Right to transfer property.

Other Constitutional 2. Right to marry, divorce.
Fundamental Rights Rights: 3. MNREGA
1. Right to Property ( Art 300A)
2. Right to Inter-state business (Art 301)

Quick Points
• All the Fundamental Rights are Legal Rights.
• If the Fundamental Rights are violated, one
can directly approach the Supreme Court.

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Global picture
England, the United States & India.

England
• In England, there is no code of Fundamental
Rights.
• The foundation of individual rights in England
may be said to be negative, in the sense that an
individual has the right and freedom to take
whatever action he likes, so long as he does not
violate any rule of the ordinary law of the land.

• In England, the Courts have the fullest power

to protect the individual against executive
tyranny, the Courts are powerless as against
legislative aggression upon individual rights.
• In short, there are no Fundamental Rights
binding upon the Legislature in England.

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• There is no law in England which the Parliament

cannot change.
• De Lolme said, ‘The British Parliament can do
everything except make a woman a man and a
man a woman.’
• In Short, there is no right which may be said to be
‘Fundamental’ in the strictest sense of the term.

United States
• The framers of the US Constitution were
apprehensive of the tyranny not only from the
Executive but also from the Legislature.
• So, the American Bill of Rights is equally
binding upon the Legislature as upon the
Executive.

• Concept of ‘Judicial Supremacy’ as opposed to

‘Parliamentary Supremacy’.
• The Courts in the US are competent to declare
an act of Congress as unconstitutional on the
ground of contravention of any provision of
the Bill of Rights.

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Indian Model
• Our Constitution follows the American model
rather than the English.
• But the powers of the judiciary vis-a-vis the
Legislature are weaker in India than in the
United States :

• While the declarations in the American Bill of Rights

are absolute and the power of the State to impose
restrictions upon the Fundamental Rights of the
individual in the collective interests had to be evolved
by the Judiciary, - in India, this power has been
expressly conferred upon the Legislatures by the
Constitution itself, leaving a power of Judicial Review
in the hands of the Judiciary to determine the
reasonableness of the restrictions imposed by the
Legislature.

Fundamental Rights Explained

Articles 12 to 35

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Article 12
Definition of ‘The State’

• ‘The State’ includes the Government and

Parliament of India and the Government and
the Legislature of each of the States and all
local or other authorities within the territory
of India or under the control of the
Government of India.

• However, the Courts have given relief to a

petitioner without going into the question
whether the violator of the Fundamental Right
was the State or not.
• Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.
• Horizontal Application of the Fundamental
Rights – their application to fellow individuals or
persons as much as to the State.

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Article 13
Laws inconsistent with or in derogation
of the Fundamental Rights

1. All laws in force in the territory of India immediately

before the commencement of this Constitution, in so
far they are inconsistent with the provisions of this
Part, shall, to the extent of such inconsistency, be
void.
2. The State shall not make any law which takes away or
abridges the rights conferred by this Part and any law
made in contravention of this clause, shall, to the
extent of such contravention, be void.

3. ‘Law’ includes any Ordinance, order, bye-law,

rule, regulation, notification, custom, or usage
having in the territory of India the force of law.
4*. Nothing in this article shall apply to any
amendment of this Constitution made under
Article 368.
(* Inserted by the Constitution ( Twenty-forth
Amendment Act, 1971)

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Right to Equality
Articles 14 to 18

Article 14
The State shall not deny to any person equality
before the law or the equal protection of the
laws within the territory of India.

• ‘Equality before the law’ or ‘equal protection

of the laws’ does not mean the same
treatment to everyone. As no two human
beings are equal in all respects, the same
treatment to them in every respect would
result in unequal treatment.

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• The underlying principle of equality is not the

uniformity of treatment to all in all respects,
but rather to give them the same treatment in
those respects in which they are similar, and
different treatment in those respects in which
they are different.

‘Equality Before the Law’

• A corollary from A.V.Dicey’s concept of the Rule
of Law.
• Rule of Law:
 No person shall be made to suffer in body or
goods, except for a breach of law.
 A person can sue or be sued.
 Constitution is the result of the ordinary law of
the land.

• From Rex Lex to Lex, Rex.

• Borrowed from the British and is viewed as a
negative concept.

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Simply Put
1. Absence of any special privileges in favour of
any person,
2. The equal subjection of all persons to the
ordinary law of the land,
3. No person is above the law.

Exceptions:
• The President/Governor is not answerable to the
Court of law with regard to the discharge of their
official functions.
• No criminal action, whatsoever, can be initiated
against the President/Governor so long as they remain
in office.
• No civil proceedings in which compensation/relief is
claimed can be filed against the President/Governor
after the expiry of 2 Months notice served to them.

• Visiting Heads of countries & foreign

diplomats are not answerable to the Courts of
India in discharge of their official functions.

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Vienna Convention on Diplomatic

Relations(1961)
• Its an International Treaty that defines
framework for diplomatic relations between
independent nations.
• It specifies the privileges of a diplomatic
mission that enable diplomats to perform
their functions without fear of coercion or
harassment by the host country.

• The treaty consists of 53 articles.

• Article 9:
The Host Nation may, at any time, and for any
reason declare a particular member of the
diplomatic staff to be PERSONA NON GRATA. The
sending state must recall this person, or
otherwise, the person may lose his/her
diplomatic immunity.

• Article 22:
The premises of a diplomatic mission, such as
an embassy, are inviolate and must not be
entered by the host country without the
permission of the head of the mission.
(Article 30 extends this provision to the
private residence of the diplomats).

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‘Equal Protection by the Law’

• Originated under the US Constitution.
• Viewed as a positive concept.

Simply Put
• ‘that among the equals, the law should be equal
and equally administered, that likes should be
treated alike.
• It requires affirmative action by the State
towards unequals by providing facilities and
opportunities.
• Focus on ‘Substantive Equality’ and ‘Distributive
Justice’.

• Art 14 prohibits ‘Class Legislation’ and not

‘Classification for the purpose of Legislation’.

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Article 15
Prohibition of discrimination on the
grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or
place of birth

15(1)
• The state shall not discriminate against any
citizen on grounds ONLY of religion, race,
caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.
• This right is enforceable only against the State
and not on other individuals.

15(2)
• No citizen shall, on grounds ONLY of religion, race, caste,
sex, place of birth or any of them, be subject to any
disability, liability, restriction or condition with regard to –
a) Access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and places of
public entertainment; or
b) The use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads and places of
public resort maintained wholly or partly out of State
funds or dedicated to the use of general public.

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15(2) Continued...
• Enforceable against the State as well as
individuals.
• Helps in the fight against Untouchability.

15(3)
• Nothing in this article shall prevent the State
from making any special provision for women
and children.

15(4)
• Added by 1st Constitutional Amendment
1951.
• Does not bar the State from making any
special provision for the advancement of any
socially and educationally backward classes
of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and the
Scheduled Tribes.

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15(5)
• Added by the 93rd Constitutional Amendment
Act 2005.
• Confers power on the State to reserve seats in
favour of backward classes of citizens who are
socially and educationally backward in
educational institutions (including unaided
private institutions but excluding the minority
institutions)

CEI( Reservation of Seats) Act, 2007

• Not more than 27% of the seats in Central
Educationally Institutions (IITs, IIMs, NITs)
have been reserved in favour of the OBCs.
• Purely research-oriented institutions like IISc,
TIFR have been exempted.

Article 16
Equality of opportunity in matters of
public employment

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16(1)
• There shall be equality of opportunity for all
citizens in matters relating to employment or
appointment to any office under the State.

16(2)
• No citizen shall, on grounds ONLY of religion,
race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth,
residence or any of them, be ineligible for, or
discriminated against in respect of, any
employment or office under the State.

16(3)
• Confers the power on the Parliament to
provide, by law, residence as a qualification in
cases of certain classes of employment under
the State.
• Mulk Rules.

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Quick Points
It is Parliament alone that can prescribe such
conditions,
&
that too in regard to State and not Union
appointments.

16(4)
• Empowers the State to reserve seats in favour
of backward classes (SC & ST included) in
public employment provided these classes are
not adequately represented in the services
under the State.

• SC in Indra Sawhney v/s Union of India (1992)

case classified the legal principles relating to
reservation:
a) 16(4) is an enabling clause.
b) Any reservation policy in favour of backward
classes shall have to satisfy 5 constitutional
requirements.

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1) Social & Educational backwardness.

2) The backward classes, in the opinion of the State, are
not adequately represented in the public
employment.
3) The concept of Creamy Layer shall apply to the OBCs.
4) The reservation cannot, at any point, exceed 50%.
5) The overall efficiency should not be affected as
required under the Article 335(Subjective Clause).

Indra Sawhney Case Contd...

c) The power conferred by article 16(4) enables
the State to provide reservation only at the
entry level, i.e at the time of recruitment, and
not promotions.
d) The reservation based upon economic
backwardness among the General Category is
no criteria to extend reservation.

16(4A)
• Inserted by the 77th Constitutional
Amendment Act, 1995.
• Reservation in Promotions for SCs and STs in
public employment, if in the opinion of the
State members of these communities are not
adequately represented in the public
employment.

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M. Nagaraj v/s Union of India (2006)

• 3 constitutional requirements:
a) The SC & ST communities are socially and
educationally backward.
b) Not adequately represented in the public
employment.
c) Does not affect the efficiency in the
administration.

UP State Power Corporation Ltd v/s Rajesh

Kumar, 2012
• Struck down the reservation in promotion
policy of the UP Govt on the ground that the
State failed to provide quantifiable data to
support the 3 constitutional requirements.

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16(4B)
• Carry forward policy.
• Inserted by the 81st Constitutional
Amendment Act, 2000.

16(5)
• Nothing in this article shall affect the operation of
any law which provides that the incumbent of an
office in connection with the affairs of any
religious or denominational institution or any
member of governing body thereof shall be a
person professing a particular religion or
belonging to a particular denomination.

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Article 17
Abolition of untouchability

• ‘Untouchability’ is abolished and its practice, in

any form, is forbidden.
• An Absolute Fundamental Right.
• Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955.
• Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes
(Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015.

Examples
• Refusing admission to any person to public
institutions, such as hospital, dispensary,
educational institution;
• Preventing any person from worshipping or
offering prayers in any place of public worship;

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Untouchability
• Insulting.
• Preaching.
• Justifying.
• If a member of a Scheduled Caste is subjected to
any such disability or discrimination, the court
shall presume, unless the contrary is proved, that
such an act was committed on the ground of
‘untouchability’.

2015 Amendments
• Actions like:
• tonsuring of head, moustache, or similar acts which are derogatory to the
dignity of members of SCs and STs, will now be treated as offences of
atrocities.
• The offences include denying access to irrigation facilities or forest rights,
"garlanding with chappals", compelling them to dispose or carry human or
animal carcasses, or to dig graves, using or permitting manual scavenging,
dedicating a SC or ST women as devadasi and abusing in caste name.
• Imposing social or economic boycott, hurting a SC or ST woman by
removing her garments, forcing a member of SC/ST to leave house, village
or residence, acts or gestures of a sexual nature against members of SCs
and STs etc.

Article 18
Abolition of Titles

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Provisions
• 18(1): No title, not being academic or military distinction, shall be
conferred by the State.
• 18(2): No citizen shall accept any title from any foreign State.
• 18(3): No person who is not a citizen of India shall, while he holds
any office of profit or trust under the state, accept without consent
of the President any title from any foreign State.
• 18(4): No person holding any office of profit or trust under the State
shall, without the consent of the President, accept any present,
emolument, or office of any kind from or under any foreign State.

Padma Awards
• Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan, Padma
Bhushan, and Padma Shri.
• Bharat Ratna – ‘exceptional services towards
the advancement of Art, Literature and
Science, and in recognition of public service
of highest order’.

• Others – ‘distinguished public service in any

field, including service rendered by
government servants’.

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Controversies

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