Paramount Highlights Of Indian Constitution

Introduction

Indian Constitution holds the fundamental rules and regulations of the country setting out the framework and the paramount functions to be functioned by various organs of the government. This lengthiest constitution of the world features 448 Articles in 25 parts accommodating the 12 schedules in it. There is only one Constitution for all the territory of India as mentioned in the definition of “India” under Art. 1[1] of Constitution. The Indian Parliament is the only empowered body which can make amendments in the constitution in accordance with the changing society leading to a better serving of justice. The Constitution aims at promoting unity with intersecting the ideals of national spirit.

“Law And Order Are The Medicine Of The Body Politic And When The Body Politic Gets Sick, Medicine Must Be Administered”

~ Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

Understanding the Unique

The preamble to the constitution lays the basic ideal guidelines and underlying philosophy[2] of what the constitution constitutes clarifying the ambiguities in the interpretation of it and is therefore termed as the “Soul of the constitution”. It confirms India to be a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic and Republic country committed to secure justice, liberty, and equality for the people and for promoting fraternity, dignity, unity, and integrity of the nation. Art. 32[3] of the constitution defines the rights to Constitutional remedies empowering the fundamental rights of the citizens. Therefore, Art. 32 is termed as “Heart of Constitution”. Initially, the preamble was stated as a non-integral part of the constitution not having the power to be enforceable by law as held in the verdict of The Berubari Union & Ors.[4]. Later, it was held in the case of Kesavananda Bharati V. State Of Kerala [5] and the case of Union Govt. V. LIC of India[6] that preamble is an integral part of the constitution and will be used to clarify the ambiguities while interpreting the constitution.

“Let every person remember that the ”holy book” is the Constitution of India, and it is with this book in hand that the citizens of India march together as a nation, so that they may move forward in all spheres of human endeavour to achieve the great goals set out by this ”Magna Carta” or Great Charter of India[7], Justice Nariman stated recently in Sabarimala verdict (the case of Indian Young Lawyers Assn. v. the State of Kerala). The constitution places a non-negotiable obligation on all authorities to enforce the judgments of the Supreme Court. This is also known as Doctrine of Precedents”.

The multiple features of the constitution including fundamental rights, Parliament governance, federalism, secularism, and democratic rule makes it an exceptional one. This constitution is a mix of various provisions and codes taken from the Constitution of different countries. The basic structure derives from the Government of India Act, the rest of the provisions being modified according to the requirements and suitability of the country. The principle of secularism says that India will not have any one particular religion as an own dominant religion and everyone have the right to freely practice any religion as held in the landmark case of SR Bommai and Others v Union of India[8].

Non-Federal Features

Single citizenship was guaranteed by the constitution to avoid any kind of discrimination between the citizens based on state or territory dominance. The power is divided among the three bodies namely judiciary, legislative and executive body. The judicial system of India is independent; Supreme Court being the highest authority over all the courts of the territory.  Supreme court has the power to function as the guardian of the constitution having the absolute authority to amend any legislation or act if violating the rules of constitution hence keeping the Constitution at the supreme power.

Further, every citizen above the age of 18 years irrespective of caste, race, religion, sex, literacy etc. has the right to vote. Universal adult franchise removes social inequalities and assists the principle of political equality to function smoothly among the citizens. This self- made and duly enacted constitution was implemented on 26th Nov 1949 celebrated as the Republic day.

Moreover, this constitution is the mix of federalism and Unitarianism with the balanced rigid character proving to be successful in guiding our country towards the path of progress.

The Government

One of the salient features of the constitution includes the Directive Principles of State Policy stated in Part 4 of it. These are the guidelines that a state must follow while securing socio-economic developmental objectives through policies. The Union of India has the duty to implement them. Bicameral government is provided by the constitution at union level ensuring 2 houses namely Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Both the houses have their respective election procedures.

Hindi in Devnagri script has been stated as the official language of the Union. Each state province has the liberty to adopt any language as the official language. English is the official language for the High Courts and the Supreme Courts. 22 languages have been recognised by the constitution as Indian languages so far as mentioned in the 8th Schedule.

Protection to Minorities

Keeping the principle of equality and equity in existence, interests of SCs and STs are well protected under the certain provisions of the constitution empowering the motive of reservation in jobs, reservation of seats in government and, reservation in Panchayats and Municipals Councils. Special reservation to women category is also implemented after amendments in concerning provisions. Indian constitution exhibits unitary features by making a centralized government with the principle of sovereignty ingrained in it. Division of the powers among the Union and state according to the Union, State and Concurrent list is an important non-federal feature of our constitution. The president of the country enjoys absolute veto and have the supreme authority to reject the state bills in accordance with the Governor of the country.

Extraordinary Limitation

A major limitation to the rule of amending the constitution is ruled out in supra case of Kesavananda Bharati V. State of Kerela[9] saying that amendment to the constitution is possible but not every such amendment is permissible. The amendment being made should be in respect with the basic structure of the constitution and the preamble to the constitution. Also known as “Doctrine of basic features” states that the basic philosophy of the constitution should not be deleted or repealed while making an amendment. This “basic feature” has not been defined anywhere in the constitution and thus creates a “pandora box” leaving the responsibility of interpretation to the judicial body. To safeguard everyone against the law, the interpretation of the above is done according to the issues raised and the various circumstances of the case. The decisions are made by adjudicatory body on a case-by-case basis.

Therefore, all the above features are the Paramount Highlights of our constitution which make it an unprecedented one.    

“A Verbis Legis Non Recedendum Est”

References

B.L.Grover, (2012), “ A new look at Modern Indian History” S.Chand Publishers, New Delhi,

Arvind Elangovan, (2014), “The Making of the Indian Constitution: A case for a non-nationalist approach” History Compass”, Vol-12, Issue-1.

 M. Laxmikanta., (2014) “Indian Polity”, Mcgraw Hill Education, New Delhi

V. Venkatesan, “A fresh look at the relevance of three early doctrines that have defined the Indian Constitution over the years”. Front-line (Vol. 29 – Issue 05: 10-23 Mar. 2012)

M.P.Jain,(2010). “Indian Constitutional Law”, LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa Nagpur. P. 921


[1] Name and territory of the Union-

  • India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States
  • The States and the territories thereof shall be as specified in the First Schedule
  • The territory of India shall comprise

[2] Golak Nath v. State of Punjab (1967 AIR 1643, 1967 SCR (2) 762)

[3] Remedies for enforcement of fundamental rights conferred by this Part-

The right to move the Supreme Court by appropriate proceedings for the enforcement of the fundamental rights conferred by this Part is guaranteed.

[4] AIR 1960 SC 845, 1960 3 SCR 250

[5] (1973) 4 SCC 225, AIR 1973 SC 1461

[6] 1995 case of Union Government v. LIC of India

[7] Indian Young Lawyers Assn. v. State of Kerala ,2018 SCC Online SC 1690

[8] S R Bommai and Others v Union of India, AIR 1994 SC 1918

[9] (1973) 4 SCC 225) 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *