Attorney General Objects To Plea In Supreme Court To Enforce Fundamental Duties

The Attorney General for India KK Venugopal on Monday objected to a writ petition which has been filed seeking directions to enforce fundamental duties and steps to sensitise the citizens about their duties.Asserting that "tremendous amount of work" has been done by the Ministry of Law and Justice to create awareness about duties, the AG said that the petitioner should have first done research to ascertain the facts before filing the writ petition. The AG added that the prayer to enact a law to enforce duties is not maintainable at all as no mandamus can be issued by the Court to the Parliament.While issuing notice on the petition on February 21, the bench of Justices S. K. Kaul and M. M. Sundresh had sought central government's response as to whether any steps have been taken in pursuance of the top Court's judgment in case of Hon'ble Shri Rangnath Mishra v. Union of India and Ors, wherein directions were issued to the Centre to consider and take appropriate steps expeditiously for the implementation of the recommendations of Justice J. S. Verma Committee's report on the operationalisation of fundamental duties. The bench had also asked the central government if it proposes to take any steps in furtherance of the judgment thereof.Further, the bench had sought the assistance of the Attorney General of India K. K. Venugopal.On Monday, at the outset, the AG told the bench, "I am appearing on notice. I have an objection to this petition itself because the Department of Justice on its website shows the tremendous amount of work which has been done for the purpose of sensitising people, both citizens and the students, about Article 51A. And the curriculum of the schools contains the entire 51A with duties to be taught to them, debates have been held throughout the country, etc. The leaders have addressed on this aspect- the President, the Prime Minister- from time to time. The one-year awareness drive was launched..."Justice Kaul: "That is fine. We were also circumspect in issuing the notice and we said that it falls within the domain of political dispensation. We only wanted to know the limited point on which we had issued notice was the petitioner's reference to prayers 'a' and 'g' in the petition. We say that pursuant to the observation in Ranganath Mishra v. Union of India, the government may inform as to whether any steps have been taken pursuant to the judgment or does it propose to take any steps. That is the very limited mandate of our notice"AG: "This has been elaborately set out on the website of the Ministry of Justice. There is a duty on the part of any PIL petitioner to first investigate and then come forward and say what is necessary. There was the Citizens' Duties Awareness programme covering to about 48 crore citizens, there have been programmes in schools..."Justice Kaul: "Can you place the affidavit on record so that we can have the benefit of seeing it also and passing a concrete order?"AG: "I am appearing as the Attorney General. Your lordships may direct the Union of India..."Justice Kaul: "You say the mandate of the judgment has been implemented?"AG: "There is a duty on the PIL petitioner to know the facts first"Justice Kaul: "We will note that, the Union of India can place it on record, then we will close the proceedings"AG: "Prayer (a) and (g) are seeking direction to make a law which Your Lordships have held cannot be..."Justice Kaul: "Therefore, the question is do you propose to do something or not?"AG: "No, My Lords, there is no need for it. First of all, your lordships will not direct the Parliament to make a law..."An advocate appearing for the solicitor general advanced that "we will take instructions and file a response in this matter"Justice Kaul: "We are told by the government that the Solicitor General is also appearing and they would like to place on record..."AG: "I am appearing as Attorney General, SG will be appearing for the Union of India"Justice Kaul: "Yes, and as the senior most law officer, we wanted to know from you what is happening"AG: "The prayer has sought issuance of directions to the Union and states to make comprehensive well defined laws for ensuring the adherence of Fundamental Duties and requiring the citizens to perform their Fundamental Duties properly. I don't see how the prayer will lie. (g) seeks framing guidelines/ regulations for taking appropriate adequate steps to sensitise the people and spread general awareness among the citizens in relation to performance of Fundamental Duties. The Prayer will not lie!"Justice Kaul: "That is why we had asked that the government may inform the court as to whether any steps have been taken in pursuance to the judgment or if it proposes to. We will not use our mandamus"AG: "Very well . the solicitor general may file the counter. But the entire thing is there on the website..."The bench then proceeded to dictate the following order: "The AG has put in appearance and states that there is huge amount of material on...

Attorney General Objects To Plea In Supreme Court To Enforce Fundamental Duties

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