![Describe the Fundamental Duties prescribed under Article 51A. [M.P.J.S. 2013]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8BWAKL5vnx7UIQsY7cuolVnbvNzjd9sKhlCL4y_L7YfT1Yc4N7O9ASdWDFq7G89YiVbP6v5PXLqG6DHAxvUdS70tS3fPiMOieD97YdXPqmhFTmQcz6srgglzjqAJQH4bTcdKaWZL1e-0/w700/1-12.jpg)
Describe the Fundamental Duties prescribed under Article 51A. [M.P.J.S. 2013]
1. Describe the Fundamental Duties prescribed under Article 51A. [M.P.J.S. 2013]
Introduction
Our country India has
the lengthiest written constitution in the world. In this, the rights of every
person are kept in mind. However, the three organs of the State cannot make
this country self-reliant until they get the proper support from the citizens as
well. So there are certain fundamental duties which are expected from the
citizens to be carried out. In this article, we will discuss the Fundamental
Duties which are expected to be carried out by the citizens of our country. It
is a moral obligation on the citizens to maintain the feeling of patriotism and
unity among all the citizens of the country.
I remember an instance
where a popular celebrity was found to breach the fundamental duty. There was a
lady wearing a saree during the commentary of the live cricket match and that
saree had a reflection of tricolor in it. In this case, the Indian flag seemed
to touch the feet of that anchor. She was brutally criticized by various
peoples and in the court, as this was a case of breach of fundamental duty so no
legal action can be further taken against that anchor.
This was an instance of
the year 2007 when I was still a child and knowing nothing about the
Fundamental Duties. However, today I can clearly say that it was a breach of
fundamental duty. Fundamental Duties are applied only to the citizens of the
country, not to any organ of the state.
Article 51A:
Fundamental duties
It shall be the duty of every citizen of India –
(a) to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the
National Flag and the National Anthem;
(b) to cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle
for freedom;
(c) to uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India;
(d) to defend the country and render national service when called upon to do
so;
(e) to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the
people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional
diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women;
(f) to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture;
(g) to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes,
rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures;
(h) to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and
reform;
(i) to safeguard public property and to abjure violence;
(j) to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective
activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and
achievement.
(k) to provide opportunities for education by the parent the guardian, to his
child, or a ward between the age of 6-14 years as the case may be.
Info-bits related to
Fundamental Duties
The Fundamental Duties
of citizens were added to the Constitution by the
42nd Amendment in 1976, upon the recommendations of the Swaran Singh Committee that was constituted by the
government earlier that year.
Fundamental duties are
applicable only to citizens and not to the aliens.
India borrowed the
concept of Fundamental Duties from the USSR.
The inclusion of
Fundamental Duties brought our Constitution in line with article 29 (1) of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and with provisions in several modern
Constitutions of other countries.
Out of the ten clauses
in article 51A, six are positive duties and the other five are negative duties.
Clauses (b), (d), (f), (h), (j) and (k) require the citizens to perform these
Fundamental Duties actively.
It is suggested that a few more Fundamental Duties,
namely, duty to vote in an election, duty to pay taxes and duty to resist
injustice may be added in due course to article 51A in Part IVA of the
Constitution. (NATIONAL COMMISSION TO REVIEW THE WORKING OF THE
CONSTITUTION: A Consultation Paper on EFFECTUATION OF
FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES OF CITIZENS).
It is no longer
correct to say that Fundamental Duties enshrined in article 51A are not
enforceable to ensure their implementation and are a mere
reminder. Fundamental Duties have the element of compulsion
regarding compliance.
A number of
judicial decisions are available towards the enforcement of certain clauses
under Article 51A.
Comprehensive
legislation is needed for clauses (a), (c), (e), (g) and (i). The remaining 5
clauses, which are exhortation of basic human values, have to be developed
amongst citizens through the education system by creating proper and graded
curricular input from primary level of education to the higher and professional
levels.
Available Legal
Provisions: Justice Varma Committee was constituted in 1998 “to work out a
strategy as well as the methodology of operationalizing a countrywide programme
for teaching fundamental Duties in every educational institution as a measure
of in-service training”. The Verma Committee was conscious of the
fact that any non-operationalization of Fundamental Duties might not
necessarily be the lack of concern or non-availability of legal and other
enforceable provisions, but it was more a case of lacuna in the strategy of
implementation. It, therefore, thought it appropriate to list in
brief some of the legal provisions already available in regard to enforcement
of Fundamental Duties. A summary of such legal provisions is given
below:
In order to ensure that
no disrespect is shown to the National Flag, Constitution of India and the
National anthem, the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 was
enacted.
The Emblems and Names
(Prevention of Improper Use) Act 1950 was enacted soon after independence, inter
alia, to prevent improper use of the National Flag and the National Anthem.
In order to ensure that
the correct usage regarding the display of the National Flag is well
understood, the instructions issued from time to time on the subject have been
embodied in Flag Code of India, which has been made available to all the State
Governments, and Union territory Administration (UTs).
There are a number of
provisions in the existing criminal laws to ensure that the activities which
encourage enmity between different groups of people on grounds of religion,
race, place of birth, residence, language, etc. are adequately
punished. Writings, speeches, gestures, activities, exercise,
drills, etc. aimed at creating a feeling of insecurity or ill-will among the
members of other communities, etc. have been prohibited under Section 153A of
the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Imputations and
assertions prejudicial to the national integration constitute a punishable
offence under Section 153 B of the IPC.
A Communal organization
can be declared unlawful association under the provisions of Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act 1967.
Offences related to
religion are covered in Sections 295-298 of the IPC (Chapter XV).
Provisions of the
Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 (earlier the Untouchability (Offences) Act
1955).
Sections 123(3)
and 123(3A) of the Representation of People Act, 1951 declares
that soliciting of vote on the ground of religion and the promotion or attempt
to promote feelings of enmity or hatred between different classes of citizens
of India on the grounds of religion, race, caste, community or language is a
corrupt practice. A person indulging in a corrupt practice can be
disqualified for being a Member of Parliament or a State Legislature under
Section 8A of the Representation of People Act, 1951.
Need for Fundamental
Duties
It is important to
understand that no democratic system could ever succeed if the citizens are not
willing to participate actively by discharging their duties which are expected
to be done by them.
Our Constitution has
provided us with various rights and expects us to perform certain duties as a
return. Article 51(A) talks
about these Fundamental Duties and has 11 fundamental duties that are expected
to be performed by the citizens (there were 10 earlier and 11th was added later
by the 86th amendment). First, we will discuss these 11 fundamental duties and
then we can move on to the next topic whether it is needed or not.
We need to follow our
Constitution and should respect our national flag and national anthem.
Should follow the
ideals of the freedom struggle.
Protect the sovereignty
and integrity of our nation.
Protect our nation and
provide national services when required.
Should have the spirit
of a common brotherhood.
Preserve the culture of
our country.
Protect the environment
of our country.
Generate scientific
rationale for every thought.
To protect public
property.
Strive for excellence.
It is the duty of every
parent to send their children between 6-14 years to
school.
From these fundamental
duties, one can easily understand the need for the fundamental duty in our
constitution. It is required to protect the sovereignty of our nation. To
maintain the unity and integrity of our nation. Rights and duties go hand in
hand and cannot be separated at any cost. Fundamental duties and fundamental
rights are two sides of a coin which we know that it can’t be separated. Also,
it is found as the need of the hour to introduce fundamental duties in our
constitution.
Maintain the Sovereign
Nature of State: The main aim of the insertion of fundamental duties was
to maintain the sovereign nature of our state. Although these are not legally
enforced then also provide some kind of sovereign power to our state.
To maintain Unity and
Integrity of the nation: In the current scenario, we can see that people
are often talking about the term “intolerance”. They are relating intolerance
with unity. According to them if the people become intolerant then the
compatibility with other people will be affected and ultimately the unity among
different people will be affected terribly. Our Fundamental Duties help in
developing tolerance among the citizens and ultimately help in developing the
feeling of unity and integrity among the citizens of our country.
In the interpretation
of different statues which are made by the legislature: The Fundamental
Duties help in the interpretation of the law/ statues made by the legislature.
It is held in many cases that the need for Fundamental Duties in interpreting
the Fundamental Right is pivotal. In the case of Mohan Kumar
Singhania v. Union of India the court held that statues made
according to Article 51(A) of
our Constitution are valid. Thus from this, we can clearly see that Fundamental
Duties help in interpreting the constitutional provision.
In order to create a
balance between the claims of the individual citizen and those of the civil
society: A report was submitted by a committee led by late Justice J.S.
Verma in the year 1999. The need for and importance of Fundamental
Duties(especially under Article 51A) was explained by this committee. It can be
found in recommendation nos 3.38.1 and 3.38.2 of the report. According to this
committee, it is important to create a balance between the expectations of
individual citizens and to create a civil society. To achieve this goal, it
becomes important to orient the citizens of our country to be aware of their
social and citizenship responsibility. And by doing this we will ultimately end
up by shaping the civil society(By term ‘civil society’, we mean that a society
where all become concerned and considerate of the rights of fellow citizens).
Needed for the current
situation: When our Constitution was drafted by our Constitution makers
they found that they didn’t need to insert the fundamental duty in our
constitution. But as time passes the need and importance of Fundamental Duty
was felt that is why they were inserted later by 42nd Amendment in our
Constitution. Earlier the feeling of patriotism, harmony, feeling to promote
brotherhood, secularism were inherent and there was no need to put any moral or
legal obligation on the citizen to the same. The feeling of serving the country
and defending the country at any cost was there among the citizens of the
country. The people were willing to protect the rich heritage of Indian
culture.
However, as time passed
people were lacking these qualities. Earlier the above qualities were taught by
the family and also by the teachers in school and colleges. But with the
passage of time, all the people become so busy in their life that they forget
to inculcate these values among themselves. Those qualities which were once an
integral part of the life of the citizens of India were found to be enforced in
the form of Fundamental
Duties.
In Chandra
Bhavan Boarding And Lodging Bangalore v. State of Mysore And Another,
the Supreme Court held that it is not possible for our constitution to protect
all the rights of citizens without assigning certain duties to its citizens.
However, this decision was taken before the insertion of fundamental duties in
the Indian Constitution. It clearly explains the need for fundamental duties
for making a welfare society.
Source of Fundamental
Duties
Nowadays we can clearly
see that people will start protesting and how often it becomes violent. There
are many instances where any protest became violent and people start
vandalizing public property and start disrespecting the government. Here
citizens go beyond the line and often forget their moral duty towards the
nation. There was a similar condition in our country during the National
Emergency of 1976 where the then ruling party of our country i.e. Indian
National Congress formed the Sardar Swaran Singh Committee.
The main purpose of
this committee was to suggest the amendment in the Constitution of India(mainly
for the recommendations of fundamental duties). This committee suggested that
the citizens should know that for the enjoyment of their rights they also have
some duties and they should be abided by those duties. This committee
recommended 8 points of fundamental duties. These were as follows:
To respect the
constitution of our country.
To uphold the
sovereignty and maintain unity and integrity of the nation.
To respect the
democratic institutions.
To protect our country
and provide national services when asked to do so.
Affirm communalism in
any form.
To promote the common
good of people and cooperate in the implementation of the Directive Principle
of State Policy.
To safeguard public
property.
Pay taxes according to
rules and regulations.
However, all of the
recommendations were not accepted and some further changes were made to the
recommendations of the Swaran Singh Committee and Fundamental Duties were
finally inserted by the 42nd amendment in the Indian Constitution in the year
1976. However, initially, there were only ten fundamental duties and the 11th
duty was added later by the 86th amendment in 2002.
Many countries in this
world have the fundamental duty mentioned in their constitution. For
example, Articles 43-45 of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
talks about the duties of citizens towards the nation. Similarly, Article 194
of The Netherlands also mentions about the same. Japan has also mentioned the
fundamental duty of the residents of the country. The idea of Fundamental
Duties which has been mentioned in our constitution is basically taken from the
constitution of Russia( then USSR). These fundamental duties are mentioned in
Chapter 10 of the Constitution of the USSR. The concept of Fundamental Duties
have also been discussed in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and also in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Enforcement of Duties
Directive Principle of
State Policy (which is given in Chapter IV of the Indian Constitution) and
Fundamental Duties needs to be read together. Both have a moral obligation on
the state and citizens respectively.
Fundamental Duties do
not have any legal devour for its violation. There are six positive duties
which are expected to be done by the citizens of our country and there are five
negative duties which are not expected to be carried out by the citizens. There
is no legal enforceability for its breach, it is because of the nature of the
Fundamental Duties. We can clearly understand that it is practically impossible
to enforce these duties.
It is important to know
that Fundamental Duties are only enforceable for the citizens holding public
offices. It is possible by way of departmental rules of conduct and by making
suitable legislation. There are appropriate sanctions for the breach of
Fundamental Duties in Public Offices.
There are many places
in India where a person holding public office can be barred from departmental
promotions, also their increment can be refused. An officer who takes part in
strikes and organized a rally against the institution can be made to give up
his salary for that day.
Section 3 of the Prevention
of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971
Prevention of Insults
to National Honour Act, 1971 is an act that prevents the
citizens of our country from dishonoring the country. It includes dishonoring
the National Flag and Constitution of India. However, these are reasonably
enforceable.
Section 3 of
this act talks about the prevention of singing of the National Anthem. All the
citizens should be punished if they intentionally prevent the singing of the
National Anthem or causes disturbance to an assembly which is busy in such
singing. For instance, if a person starts making noise in a place where an
assembly is doing the National Anthem he would be punished under this article.
In the recent case of Shyam Narayan Chouksey v. Union of India in which
Hon’ble Justice Deepak Misra and Hon’ble Justice Roy passed an interim order
making it mandatory to:
i) Play the National
Anthem before the screening of each movie.
ii) Making it
compulsory for all viewers to stand still during the National Anthem.
This judgment was found
to be violating Article 19(1) of the Indian Constitution as the
unreasonable restrictions were put on the citizens of the country. Article
19(1)g clearly mentioned that the state can formulate any law
which puts a restriction on Article 19(1) however these restrictions should be
reasonable. The decision, in this case, was found to be violating the
fundamental right of citizens. It was found to be violating the Fundamental
Rights as it put unreasonable restrictions that cannot be done by the State. As
our country is a liberal country where everyone has the right to think
independently, express their views without any obligation and follow their
belief without any compulsion.
This case brought
turmoil in the Indian society as many people supported this verdict as they
found it to protect the honor of our nation. There were also people who were
not satisfied with the verdict of the Court as they find it to violate the
fundamental rights of citizens. It was a landmark case in the Indian Judicial
System. How can one be compelled to stand during the National Anthem without
his will? Also, how can the patriotism of a person be judged by this? Here, in
this case, the Supreme Court clearly held that the Fundamental Duties are above
Fundamental Rights. Here there were many loopholes in the Supreme Court
decision.
M.C. Mehta v. Union of
India, 1988 SCR (2) 530
The Fundamental Duty,
given in Article 51
A(g) of the Indian Constitution clearly mentions the duty of
the citizen to protect the environment. According to this article, it is the
duty of every citizen to protect and preserve the natural environment (natural
environment includes forest, rivers, lakes, and wildlife). A healthy
environment is an essential element of the welfare of any society.
In the case of M.C. Mehta v.
Union of India Article 51(g) was enforced by the Supreme Court.
In this case, 274.50 million liters of sewage water was being discharged into
the river Ganga on a daily basis. This case is about the city of Kanpur, which
is the biggest city on the bank of river Ganga. Here water pollution was to a
great extent that’s why the petitioner filed a petition in the Supreme Court.
Here Apex Court of the country found that Municipal bodies and industries in
Kanpur were the main reason for polluting the river. Therefore judgment was
taken against Kanpur Nagar Mahapalika. In this case, Nagar Mahapalika and
Municipal Boards were held liable because it is their responsibility to
maintain and protect the environment in the areas of Kanpur.
Further here the Apex
Court held that as there are many grave consequences of water and air pollution
and also as there is a need to protect and improve the natural environment it
became a moral obligation on the part of the government to ensure the
protection of the environment. Also, it is one of the fundamental duties which
is given in our constitution which makes a moral obligation on the part of the
citizens as well to ensure the protection of the environment. The Supreme Court
held that it is the duty of the Central Government to direct all the educational
institutions of our country to teach and train citizens about the protection
and improvement of the environment for at least one hour a week.
Further Supreme Court
held that the Central Government needs to get the textbook written for the same
purpose. These textbooks would be further distributed among all educational
institutions of our country. There should be training for teachers who are
going to give such educational teaching to children.
Fundamental Duties: An
Aid to the interpretation of Constitutional provisions
By reading all the
Fundamental Rights and Fundamental Duties together we can make a clear
understanding that there is a direct relationship between the Fundamental
Rights and Fundamental Duties. They are connected in some or other way. It
often becomes difficult for one to relate to them. But if we read it together
the task becomes much easier. For example, Article 21(A) is
similar to Article 51 A (k). Both of these articles talk about the
education of the child between 6- 14 years. While Article 21(A) put the
obligation on the state to see that no one is deprived of the Right to
Education on the other hand Article 51 A (k) makes the duty of the citizen to
make sure that no children are deprived of going to school. Thus here ultimate
aim of the constitutional provision under Article 21(A) of providing education
to children is achieved by this Fundamental Duty (Article 51A (k)). Thus here
by this illustration, we can clearly understand that Fundamental Duties helps
in the interpretation of any constitutional provision.
We can’t deny the
importance of Fundamental Duties simply as they are not enforceable in a Court
of Law. Take Another instance, Article 21 which
talks about the “Right to Life and Personal Liberty” is achieved by Article 51A
(g) which is a Fundamental Duty. Right to Life and Personal
Liberty include the Right to a Healthy Environment. It is (Article 21)
explained by the Supreme Court in a positive way and the Supreme Court regarded
that “Right to Life” means “Right to Clean Environment”. Also talking about
Article 51 A(g), it makes the duty of the citizen to protect and improve the
natural environment. Thus here also we can see that the right of the citizen to
get a healthy environment is ultimately achieved by making it the Fundamental
Duty of the citizen to protect it.
AIIMS Students Union v.
AIIMS, AIR 2001 SC 3262
In the case of AIIMS Student
Union v. AIIMS, there was a test of merit (based on marks) over
reservation in the admission process for postgraduate medical courses of the
All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
In this case, three
meritorious students went to Delhi High Court by filing a writ petition for the
purpose of getting admission in the prestigious institute of medical science.
Here there was a reservation of 33% of seats to those who have graduated from
this institute itself. The issue raised was whether AIIMS has the right to give
such a reservation to the students. Here the Supreme Court found it
unreasonable to reserve a seat for the college student itself and quash such
acts of the AIIMS as it was against the constitution.
Here the Supreme Court
clearly held that though the Fundamental Duties though may not be enforceable
by a writ of the Court they provide a valuable guide in the interpretation of
the constitutional provision. Here, in this case, the State (which includes
citizens of our country failed) to take care of fundamental duty i.e. to strive
towards excellence of individuals and collective activity in order for the
betterment of the nation. The Fundamental Duties do not expressly cast any duty
on the State, the duty of each individual became the collective duty of the
State.
Aruna Roy v. Union of
India, AIR 2002 SC 3176
In the very famous case
of Aruna Roy v.
Union of India PIL was filed in the Supreme Court. It has been
contended that the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE)
which was published by NCERT is against the constitutional mandate,
anti-secular and without consultation with Central Advisory Board of Education
(CABE) and therefore it needed to be quashed. The implementation of NCFSE was
challenged as it did not get the approval of CABE. Also, NCFSE was found
to be against the constitution as it violated the basic principle of
secularism.
However, the petition
was canceled as the Supreme Court did not find any reason to cancel the
framework (NCFSE). What is given in our constitution is that students should be
taught that every religion is common/ equal? Further Article 51A
(e) clearly explains this condition. According to this
fundamental duty, it is the duty of the citizen to promote harmony and
brotherhood among the people of a different religion. And in order to achieve
these universal values like truth, right conduct, love, and peace should be the
base of education.
The state of Gujarat v.
Mirzapur Moti Kureshi Kassab Jamat, AIR 2006 SC 212
Nowadays one of the
most rising issues which are often in the news is about the cow slaughtering.
The case of the State of
Gujarat v Mirzapur Moti Kureshi Kassab Jamat clearly explains
all the aspects of cow slaughtering. The petition was filed challenging the
amendments made in the Bombay Animal Preservation and that amendment was
applicable to the state of Gujarat. The amendment puts a complete ban on the
slaughter of bulls and bullocks. The petition challenged that as the cows and
bullocks above 16 years do not possess any economical benefit so they can be
slaughtered by those who are willing to do it.
However, the Apex Court
held that the economy of Gujarat is still dependent on agriculture. In
agriculture processes, these animals are of great importance. It, therefore,
becomes important for the preservation and protection of these animals. They
can be used for the purpose of creating biogas after they have become old.
The Supreme Court also
held that the amendments do not violate Article 14 and Article 19 of
our Constitution as this amendment put a reasonable restriction on these rights
of the citizen.
Also, the Supreme Court
held that according to Article 51 A (g) which puts a duty on the citizen to
protect and improve the environment and here environment including forests,
lakes, rivers, and wildlife. So the court held that according to this Article
of our constitution the state can make laws for the protection of the
environment. This Article helps in the interpretation of Article
21 of our constitution according to which as mentioned earlier
in this article talks about the Right to Clean Environment.
Government of India v.
George Philip, AIR 2007 SC 705
In this very famous
case of Government of
India v. George Philip, the purpose of compulsory retirement was
challenged by the respondent. The respondent who was working in BARC was
granted two years left at the starting of his service by the department. It was
given to him to carry out advanced research training. After many reminders, the
petitioner overstayed in the foreign and an inquiry was constituted for the
same purpose and charge against him was proven. He was allowed (decision of the
High Court) to join his service but no wages were decided to be given to him
for those days which he was not able to attend the service. But the Supreme
Court overruled this decision of the High Court. The reasoning given by the
Supreme Court behind its decision was that the earlier decision i.e. the
decision of the High Court was against Article
51A(j).
Article 51A(j) clearly
says that it is the duty of one to always strive towards excellence in all
spheres of life of an individual and it also talks about the collective
activity so that the nation keeps rising higher in an endeavor and this cannot
be achieved until the employees maintain the discipline.
Conclusion
At last, we can conclude that in this article we have come to know about every aspect of Fundamental Duties and by reading every aspect of it we can clearly understand the need and importance of Fundamental Duty. It was added in our constitution as our government realized that a civil society (discussed earlier in this article) can not be made by the state only. The citizens of our country need to play a vital role in achieving the basic aim of our constitution. They can do this by following their duties towards the nation as mentioned in Article 51A
of
our Constitution.
0 Comments: