Cases against Governors in Supreme Court is a sad story on their Constitutional position in India: Justice B.V. Nagarathna
Justice B.V. Nagarathna, Supreme Court judge, delivered the keynote address at the NLSIU-PACT conference in Bengaluru on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: BHAGYA PRAKASH K.
“The cases against Governors in the Supreme Court is a sad story on the constitutional position of the Governor in India,” said Supreme Court judge Justice B.V. Nagarathna.
Delivering her closing keynote address on the topic “Home in the Nation: Indian Women’s Constitutional Imaginaries” at the National National Law School of India University (NLSIU)-PACT conference on Saturday, she said: “In today’s times, unfortunately, some of the Governors in India are playing a role where they ought not to and inactive where they ought to be.”
She explained the idea of “neutrality of Governor” with a quote of Durgabai Deshmukh, member of the Constituent Assembly of India, who had said: “Certain functions are expected to be discharged by the Governor. We wanted to introduce the Governor in our Constitution because we thought that an element of harmony would be there and that institution would bring about some sort of understanding and harmony between the conflicting groups of people, if really the Governor is conscious of his duties and he functions well. It is only for this purpose this is proposed. The governing idea is to place the Governor above party politics, above factions and not to subject him to the party affairs.”
In her lecture, Justice Nagarathna also spoke on the value of fraternity and said: “Fraternity, even today, remains the least understood, least discussed, and perhaps the least practiced of the four ideals like federalism, fraternity, fundamental rights, and principled governance spelt out in the preamble of India’s Constitution.”
She said that the Constitution views fraternity significantly as a source of affirming the dignity of the individual and the unity of the nation. “The former is accomplished by recognising the moral equality of individuals, upheld through mutual respect, despite all our differences, of religious belief, caste, language, culture, ethnicity, class and gender. The idea of the unity of the nation being derived from fraternity is even more significant. Fraternity, may perhaps, even be the key for the deepening of our democracy,” she said. “It is in this context that I state that the quest towards achieving the ideal of fraternity must begin with an acknowledgment by every citizen of his/her fundamental duties, which are enumerated under Article 51A of the Constitution,” she added.
Justice Nagarathna said that from a constitutional society, we should evolve into a constitutional polity. “That means our political life should emphasise the hallowed goals enshrined in the Preamble of the Constitution. Our public policies cannot be unmoored from the principle of economic democracy,” she said.
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