NEW DELHI: On the occasion of 71st Constitutional Day, Justice DY Chandrachud stated that the constitutional rights and liberties of the citizens of the country are of utmost importance. The constitution doesn’t belong to the lawyers and the judges alone, he stated.
Justice Chandrachud also remarked that the present pandemic situation had raised several pertinent questions, including on the role of the courts in the realisation of liberal, democratic, and Constitutional values.
Justice Chandrachud went on to cite two recent examples where the Supreme Court had interfered, i.e. the Gujarat Mazdoor Sabha case and the BK Pavitra case. The latter involved a question of consequential seniority in promotions for members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Karnataka.
He added that public-spirited citizens need to bring forward petitions that are well focused and narrowly tailored, based on strong evidence, broad stakeholder consultation, and genuinely representing the voices of those on whose behalf it is brought forward.
In a later part of his address, he noted that social action litigation has served as a powerful tool to correct deficiencies in government delivery and to protect those at the receiving end of repression, administrative inefficiency, and absence of legal protection, he observed.