Abstract
Inspired as they were by ideologies from different historical sources, the makers of the Indian Constitution produced a document owing allegiance to different social philosophies. They sought to fashion a constitution on the bourgeoisie understanding of the ideals of Liberty and Equality, but the revolutionaries that they were and pressed as they were by the force of progress, they were alive to. the march of history and the significance of the Russian socialist revolution and so they accommodated in some measure some principles of socialism. The result was the dichotomy of the Indian Constitution which projected certain individual freedoms and rights as basic, and incorporated them in the Constitution as 'Fundamental Rights' while relegating other significant rights which incorporated socialist or humanist principles to the position of 'Directive Principles of State Policy'. With the lifting of the Emergency and the ending of the eclipse of democracy, the style of functioning of the Supreme Court also visibly changed. The Court appeared to show greater concern for the problems of the ordinary people and became more concerned with real practical justice than abstract legal justice. It was ready to evolve new jurisprudential rules and invent new techniques. Foremost is the concept of Public Interest Litigation, the foundation for which was laid down by the genius Justice Krishna Iyer in the Rat/am Municipality case.
Recommended Citation
Reddy, Mr. Justice O Chinnappa
(1997)
"The court and the constitution- 1950-1996: Peaks and depths,"
National Law School Journal: Vol. 9:
Iss.
1, Article 21.
Available at:
https://repository.nls.ac.in/nlsj/vol9/iss1/21