Plea To Enforce Fundamental Duties : Supreme Court Grants Last Opportunity To Centre To File Affidavit

As a matter of 'one more opportunity after the last opportunity', the Supreme Court, on Tuesday, gave four weeks' time to the Central Government to file a comprehensive counter affidavit in a plea seeking enforcement of fundamental duties as enshrined in Part IV-A of the Constitution.While granting further time, the Court noted that on the last occasion, when the matter was taken up in July, 2022, it had granted 'last opportunity' to the Centre to file the affidavit. On Tuesday, the Bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and A.S. Oka recorded in the order that if the affidavit is not filed within four weeks, it would be taken up on record only after payment of a cost of Rs. 25,000. "In order to ensure compliance, we make it (counter affidavit) clear that if it is not filed within 4 weeks, then it would be taken on record after 4 weeks with a cost of Rs. 25,000"At the outset, Senior Advocate, Mr. Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the petitioner, apprised the Bench that, on the last occasion, the Attorney General for India had taken time to file a comprehensive counter affidavit. However, only the State of Uttar Pradesh and the State of Karnataka had filed affidavits. It was informed that neither the Union Government filed an affidavit nor the Attorney General filed his note.Accordingly, the Bench passed a similar order for the State Governments that are yet to file counter affidavits. It clarified that if the State Governments do not file the counter affidavits or file it on a belated date, they would be visited with a cost of Rs. 25,000 each. "On similar terms the last opportunity is given to the States to file affidavits within 4 weeks. The failure to file an affidavit within the specified time will result in cost of Rs. 25,000 each."The Bench asked the Attorney General to submit his note within 4 weeks. Advocate, Mr. Siddharth Kohli, appearing on behalf of the Attorney General, sought for some accommodation as the AG was before Court No. 1. Justice Kaul stated, "Accommodation is fine, but you are not coming up with a stand on record."Mr. Kohli informed the Judge that as inputs are supposed to come from multiple Departments, it is taking some time. He accepted that there was a delay on the part of the Union Government. He sought 4 weeks' time to file the comprehensive response. In April, AG Venugopal had objected to the petition filed by Advocate Durga Dutt. 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 said 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.The Court had issued notice in the matter in February. During the course of the hearing, the Court sought Central Government's response as to whether any steps have been taken in pursuance of the top Court's judgment in case of 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 JS Verma Committee's report on the operationalisation of fundamental duties.The present petition argues that the non-adherence of the Fundamental Duties has a direct bearing upon the Fundamental Rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.Further, the petition points out that except for some scattered legislation, there is neither a uniform policy nor a comprehensive code for enforcement of Fundamental Duties. "It is need of the time to motivate every citizen of India to perform their duty to uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India; to defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so, to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture and protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures. The people of this country should have a duty to preserve the nationality and integrity of the country," petition further stated.The plea also seeks to set up an independent High Powered Committee headed by a retired Chief Justice or Judge of the Supreme Court or any High Court to scrutinise and review the entire legal framework relating to the effective implementation of Part IV-A and give out recommendations on the same.The petitioner has also prayed for framing guidelines/ regulations for taking appropriate steps to sensitise the people and spread general awareness among the citizens in relation to performance of Fundamental Duties.[Case Title: Durga Dutt v. UoI And Ors. WP(C) No. 67/2022]Click Here To Read/Download Order

Plea To Enforce Fundamental Duties : Supreme Court Grants Last Opportunity To Centre To File Affidavit

Sohini Chowdhury

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