FLAMES LAW ENTRANCE ACADEMY

TOPIC TEST- CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

Article 16 of the Indian Constitution guarantees equality of opportunity in matters of public

employment. In the case of J.K v Triloki Nath Khosa, it was held that even though Article 16
provides equality of opportunity, the state can prescribe all the necessary qualifications and
tests that are necessary for providing employment. In the case of [Link] vs Mysore, the
Court put a 50% limit on reservations in almost all states except Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.

Article 16(4) is a very important provision that allows the state to make reservations of
appointments for the development of backward classes if they are not adequately represented
by the services of the state. The case of Devadasan v Union of India is a landmark judgment
which discussed the scope of this Article. In this case, the validity of the “carry forward rule”
made by the government that is used to regulate the reservation of employment was discussed.
The Supreme Court held that the carry forward rule is not valid as reservation exceeds over 50
percent because of this carry forward rule and it affects the other classes of society.

Q1. State of Kameo passed a reservation bill which provided 75% reservation to the tribal
community which had been illiterate and unemployed since decades. The people from
unreserved community raised objections and challenged the bill. Decide:

A) State of Kameo has rightly passed the bill as it was necessary to provide equal employment
opportunity to the tribal community.

B) State of Kameo has passed the bill as per the decision in [Link] vs Mysore.

C) State of Kameo has rightly complied with the carry forward rule.

D) The reservation is unconstitutional.

Seeing public outrage, the State of Kameo also included a personal interview round for
the people of reserved category so that only worthy candidates could be selected. The

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tribal community started protesting against this amendment as it felt that the Right under
Art. 16 is getting violated.

Q2. With respect to the new change, is the State allowed to do so?

A) Yes, the State is allowed to prescribe tests.

B) No, the State is not allowed to prescribe any tests as the tribal community was already
deprived of employment opportunity.

C) The State is allowed to prescribe tests however, they are subject to the Court’s scrutiny.

D) The State is generally not allowed to prescribe such tests as it goes against the motive of
Art. 16, however in certain situations it may do so.

Q3. Decide the validity of the bill after the new change.

A) The bill will be valid now as the State has made sure that only worthy candidates are chosen.

B) The bill remains invalid and unconstitutional.

C) The bill was always constitutional as seeks to fulfil the objective of Art. 16.

D) The bill was valid before the change, however the new provision makes it invalid.

Article 17 of the Indian Constitution abolishes untouchability and practising it in any form is
forbidden. In Shastri Yagnapurushdasji and Ors. v. Muldas Bhundardas Vaishya and Anr.,
it was held that ‘untouchability is founded by superstition, ignorance, complete
misunderstanding of the true teachings of Hindu religion’. In the famous case of the State of
Karnataka vs Appa Balu Ingale, it was noted that,

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Abolition of Untouchability is the arch of the Constitution to make the preamble meaningful
and to integrate the Dalits in the national main-stream;

The practice of untouchability is the root cause for social segregation, denial of opportunities
for Dalits in the educational, economic and cultural pursuits;

All customs, usages, practices directly or indirectly recognizing or encouraging the practice of
untouchability in any form is void, as it is opposed to public policy;

The new Act “The Protection of civil rights 1955” was brought out and it was said that the Act
is an instrument to enhance the civil, social, cultural, economic and constitutional rights of the
Dalits in addition to the rights provided in the Constitutional provisions.

Q4. In a neighbourhood, people from the Dalit community as well as the upper class as
per the Brahmanical society live together. With the onset of the pandemic, the
government advised everyone to maintain social distancing as people may contract the
virus. As the people from Dalit community worked in the hospital, people from the other
community started distancing themselves from the Dalits. The Dalits filed a case for
untouchability against them. Decide.

A) Untouchability has been abolished by the Constitution and the people from upper class
violated it.

B) No Right has been violated.

C) Cannot be determined.

D) None of the above.

Article 18(1) abolishes all titles. It prohibits the State to confer titles on anybody whether a
citizen or a non-citizen. Military and academic distinctions are, however, exempted from the
prohibition. Thus, a university can give title or honour on a man of merit. Clause (2) prohibits

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a citizen of India from accepting any title from any foreign State. Clause (3) prohibits a person
not being a citizen of India, but holding any office of profit or trust under the State, from
accepting any title from any foreign State without the consent of the President. Clause (4)
provides that no person citizen or non-citizen holding any office of profit or trust, shall, without
consent of the President, accept any present or emolument or office of any kind from or under
any foreign State.. Clauses (3) and (4) have been added to ensure that a non-citizen should
remain loyal to the State i.e. do not commit the breach of trust reposed in him.

A ‘title’ is something that hangs to one’s name, as an appendage (either prefix or suffix e.g.
Sir, Nawab, Maharaja, etc.). A democracy should not create titles and titular glories. This will
go against the realization of social equality.

However, the recent conferment of titles of “Bharat Ratna”, “Padma Vibhushan”, “Padma
Shri”, etc. (introduced in 1954) are said to be not prohibited under Article 18 as they merely
denote State recognition of good work by citizens in the various fields of activity. It may be
noted that Article 18 does not secure any fundamental right but imposes a restriction on
executive and legislative power. Further, conferring of titles offended against the fundamental
principle of equality of all citizens guaranteed by Article 14.

Q5. The world beauty pageant association organized the competition of Miss World
where young women from all over the world participated. Mansi was contending for the
title from India. She luckily won the competition and was given the title of the Miss
World. Is this against Art. 18?

A) No, this is not against the Article as she won it on merit.

B) Yes, this is against Art. 18.

C) No, this is not against Article 18 as she was given the title by a private organization.

D) Both A and C.

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Q6. Rajat used the title of Dr. even though he was not a medical practitioner. Is he allowed
to do that?

A) No, as he is not a real doctor.

B) Yes, as it doesn’t go against the realization of social equality.

C) Rajat cannot use the title unless someone gives it to him.

D) None of the above.

Article 23 provides the prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour. Human
trafficking is the illegal trade of humans for the purposes of forced labour and sexual slavery.

Article 23: Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour

(1) Traffic in human beings and beggar and other similar forms of forced labour are prohibited
and any contravention of this provision shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law

(2) Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from imposing compulsory service for public
purpose, and in imposing such service the State shall not make any discrimination on grounds
only of religion, race, caste or class or any of them.

Q7. A was a rich businessman. When he died, there was no one to take care of his
company as his son was 15 years old and his wife was illiterate. In order to earn a living,
his son sold the company to the manager and started working as a typist in the company
himself. Is this is a violation of Article 23?

A) Yes, as the circumstances have forced the child to work.

B) No, this won’t amount to forced labour.

C) Yes, this is a violation as his mother did not stop him from working.

D) It is the child’s right to earn a good life for himself.

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Q8. Tappu and his friends wanted to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi in their society, but they
did not have enough money. Therefore, they go to every house and ask for money. One of
the society members, Mr. Bhide complains about this. He says that this is a violation of
Art. 23 as this amounts to begging. Decide:

A) Mr. Bhide is right, this amounts to begging.

B) Mr. Bhide is not right, this doesn’t amount to begging.

C) This would have amounted to begging had Tappu asked people outside of his society for
the money.

D) This was a mere donation and not begging.

Article 25 provides the Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation
of religion. The concept of the secular state provided under the Preamble is supported by this
Article. In the case of Javed vs the State of Haryana, while discussing the marriage practices
like polygamy it was mentioned that what was protected under Article 25 was the religious
faith and not a practice which may run counter to public order, health or morality. Polygamy
was not an integral part of religion and monogamy was a reform within the power of the State
under Article 25. The Supreme Court in M.P. Gopalakrishnan Nair and Anr. v. State of Kerala
and Ors. held that management of the temple primarily is a secular act, even though the State
cannot interfere with the freedom of a person to profess, practice and propagate his religion,
the secular matters can only be controlled by the State.

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Q9. A temple of the State of Rajanpur did not allow people from a specific community to
enter in the temple premises. Is it violative of Article 25?

A) No, as the autonomy to manage the temple affairs is in the hands of owners.

B) No, as it is their right under Article 25.

C) Yes, as Freedom of Religion is getting violated.

D) Both A and B.

Q10. Sikya community had a practice of selling daughters as a ceremony to pay tribute
to their lord. Once an NGO filed a case against them. The community contended that
their right is protected under Article 25. Decide.

A) Their Right is indeed protected under Art.25.

B) Art. 25 doesn’t protect such practices.

C) Since its about paying tribute to the lord, it’s not unconstitutional.

D) None of the above.

Article 29 protects the interest of minorities. The minorities who have a distinct language, script
or culture of their own have all rights to protect their identity. The minorities cannot be denied
admission in any educational institution that is maintained by the State or receiving aid out of
State funds on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language or any of them.

Q11. The minorities of Kerela decided to protect Kannada as it was getting vanished from
the culture. People had stopped speaking Kannada in the State. In order to encourage
people to speak Kannada, the government made it mandatory for the people claiming

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admission under State quota to take up Kannada as an additional language. Some

students challenged the validity of this rule. Decide:

A) The rule is invalid as it forces language and discriminates against other students.

B) The rule is valid as far as Art. 29 is concerned.

C) The government is arbitrarily exercising its power under Art. 29.

D) Both A and C.

Q12. In a similar fashion, a school of language of Kerela stated that people claiming
admission should know a certain level of Kannada, below which, no student would be
given admission. The same students again filed a case claiming that they are being denied
admission on the basis of language and religion. Decide.

A) The claim is right.

B) They are being denied admission only on the ground of language.

C) They are being denied admission on the grounds of religion and ethnicity.

D) None of the above.

Article 30 provides minorities with the right to establish their own educational institutions and
the State shall not discriminate against any such minority institution while providing grants.

Q13. The State of R was financial crunches and did not have enough funds for allocation
to minority institutes when they were set up. Thus the state decided to allocate 5 lacs to
each of the minority institutions since there were three. Once of the institutions filed a
case against the State on the grounds of discrimination. It said that the government
allocated more funds to other organizations earlier due which the financial crunch took

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place and later on allocated lesser funds to them. The government said that the other
organizations were government hospitals. Decide:

A) The government has indeed shown a bias and discriminated against minority institutions.

B) The government has properly done its job as health is also an important sector.

C) The government could not have foreseen such a situation.

D) Both B and C.

Q14. Article 36 of the Indian Constitution says “In part IV, unless the context otherwise
requires, ‘the State’ has the same meaning as in Part III”. Which of the following
statements regarding the definition of ‘the State’ is/are found to be correct?

I. Since this Article adopts the definition of ‘state* in Article 12, of the Indian Constitution it
would include courts and statutory tribunals, so that they cannot overlook the objectives of the
Directives.

II. Any statutory corporation which answers the tests of a state instrumentality or agency even
though it may not be a ‘public utility undertaking’ is bound to act in consonance with the
Directive Principles.

A. Only I

B. Only II

C. Both I and II

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D. None of them

Q15. In which of the following respects the Directives differ from the Fundamental
Rights?

A. The Directives are not enforceable in the courts and do not create any justiciable rights in
favour of individuals.

B. The Directives require to be implemented by legisla-tion, and so long as there is no law

carrying out the policy laid down in a Directive, neither the state nor an individual can violate
any existing law or legal right under the colour of following a Directive

C. The Courts are not competent to compel the Government to carry out any Directive or to
make any law for that purpose

D. All of them

ANSWERS AND EXPLANATIONS

1. D

Since the prescribed limit has been breached.

2. A

J.K. v. Triloki Nath Khosa

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3. B

Since the 50% limit was breached.

4. B

People practiced social distancing to maintain health standards.

5. D

6. B

Academic distinctions have been exempted from prohibition.

7. B

The child has not been forced to work by any external human being. Furthermore, option C
isn't correct as the principal does not talk about child labour.

8. D

9. C

10. B

It's against public order.

11. C

Since the step ensures protection of minority languages.

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12. D

Since there is no discrimination on the basis of language. Being a school of language, the school
is only eliminating students based on merit and not any other thing.

13. D

14. C

15. D

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