Dr Ambedkar Warned Against Allowing Parliament To Liberally Amend Constitution : Justice BR Gavai

Supreme Court Judge, Justice BR Gavai recently spoke extensively on the contributions of Dr BR Ambedkar in shaping the Constitution and rights of the citizens as they exist today. Speaking at the First Dr Ambedkar Memorial Lecture organised by Dr Ambedkar International Centre (DAIC), Justice Gavai emphasised how Ambedkar viewed the development of society by how it treated its women. He also credited the efforts of Ambedkar in ensuring the upliftment of the marginalised sections and how the Country today has witnessed the inclusion of great leaders and thinkers from these sections of the society. He expressed : "Dr. Ambedkar always said that the women in this country are more oppressed than the Dalits and he, therefore, stated the furtherance of their upliftment was also a basic necessity." "We have had a woman Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi. We had hundreds of IAS officers, IPS officers, Chief Secretaries, DGPs belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and OBCs.""We have had the Dalit Chief Justice of India, Justice KG Balakrishnan. The country is having a Prime Minister, who comes from a humble background belonging to Backward Classes and who takes pride in saying that it is because of the Constitution of India, that he could be the Prime Minister of India.""Speaking for myself, I was fortunate to have been born to a father who worked with Dr. Ambedkar and served as one of the soldiers in the fight for social and economic justice. I am here only because of Dr. Ambedkar and the Constitution of India." He also mentioned other leaders and thinkers, such as two Presidents who belonged to Scheduled Castes, viz., Shri K.R. Narayanan and Shri Ram Nath Kovind and two women presidents of the Country, Smt. Patribha Patil and Smt Draupadi Murmu (also from Scheduled Tribe category). Dr Ambedkar On The Perils Of Allowing The Parliament To Liberally Amend The Constitution Justice Gavai recalled how Dr Ambedkar faced extreme criticism from socialists as well as the communists for making the procedure for constitutional amendments rigid. In the Constituent Assembly, it was argued that it was difficult to get a two-third majority of the Members present in both the Houses and a simple majority of the total Members. It was also argued that it was very difficult to get ratification by half of the State Legislatures. It was, therefore, argued that such a rigid provision would not permit the Constitution to adapt to the changing needs. Tackling these claims, Ambedkar, while acknowledging the need to ensure that the Constitution remained an ever-evolving document, warned that it cannot be used by political parties to further their political agendas. Justice Gavai explained : "Dr. Ambedkar said that, today the Constituent Assembly was sitting as an independent body without having any political ideologies, without any particular agenda. But if the power is given to the Parliament to amend the Constitution very liberally, then the danger of a particular political party, finding it difficult to implement its agenda, amending the Constitution in order to implement its ideology cannot be ruled out. He said that this could not be permitted.""Though a provision has to be made to adapt to the changing needs, the Constitution cannot be permitted to be amended at the sweet will of the majority." Justice Gavai also mentioned how in the Keshavananda Bharati Case, the Supreme Court in a sharp division of 6 to 7 held that though the Parliament has the power to amend the Constitution and even take away the fundamental rights, held that it does not have the power to amend the basic structure of the Constitution. Lauding the far-sightedness of Dr Ambedkar, Justice Gavai said that the country has continued to remain united despite all the internal and external challenges it faced. Referring to his speeches made on 17th December 1946, 4th November 1948 and on 25th November 1949, Justice Gavai termed Ambedkar to be a 'great visionary'. He added, "He (Ambedkar) had stated that the country would be strong and united in the time of peace as well as war. Though in the last 75 years, the country has faced various external aggressions and internal disturbances, the country remained united and strong. When we compare ourselves with the neighbouring countries, we would find as to how relevant his proposals were." Ambedkar On DPSPs Justice Gavai also shed light on how Ambedkar dealt with the criticism on the Directive Principles of State Policies. He said : "There were allegations made against Dr. Ambedkar that Directive Principles are nothing else but a pious declaration having no binding force. Replying the said criticism, he said,:“These Directive Principles have also come up for criticism. It is said that they are only pious declarations. They have no binding force. This criticism is of course, superfluous. The Constitution itself says so in so many words.If it is said that the Directive Principles have no legal force behind them, I am...

Dr Ambedkar Warned Against Allowing Parliament To Liberally Amend Constitution : Justice BR Gavai

Anmol Kaur Bawa

Ambedkar was against allowing the Constitution to be amended at the sweet will of the majority, Justice Gavai pointed out.

Tags