New Delhi, Nov 25 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a clutch of petitions challenging the insertion of the words “Socialist” and “Secular” in the Preamble to the Indian Constitution.
A Bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI), Sanjiv Khanna observed that the power of the Parliament to amend the Constitution extends to the Preamble as well.
In an earlier hearing, the top court had said that secularism has been held to be a core feature of the Constitution, adding that a catena of apex court judgments has repeatedly held that secularism was always a part of the basic structure.
Several petitions have been filed before the Supreme Court challenging the 42nd Constitution Amendment Act, 1976 by which the words “Socialist” and “Secular” were inserted in the Preamble of the Constitution.
One of the petitions said that such an amendment is against the “historical and cultural theme of the Great Republic of Bharat, the oldest civilisation of the world”.
It further contended that the concept of “Dharma” is different from the concept of religion and the Communist theory of state cannot be applied in the Indian context, which has been a total failure and is not in tune with the religious sentiments and socioeconomic conditions.
“How can the citizens of India be compelled to be secular when they have the Fundamental Right to Freedom of Religion under Article 25 of the Constitution of India to freely profess, practice and propagate religion,” the plea said.
The plea urged the top court to issue direction or declaration that the concepts of “Socialism” and “Secularism” occurring in the Preamble of the Constitution refer to the nature of the Republic and are limited to the working of the sovereign function of the state and the same is not applicable to the citizens, political parties, and social organisations.
The plea contended that in France and some other countries, a secular government is never involved in religious matters whereas the Indian Constitution itself has empowered the state to indulge in religious matters and some special rights have been given even to religious minorities under Article 30 of the Constitution.
The petition also challenged the insertion of the words “Secular” and “Socialist” in the Representation of the People Act, 1951, making it compulsory for the political parties applying for registration before the Election Commission to make a specific provision in its memorandum that the association will have true faith and allegiance to the Constitution and “to the principles of ‘Socialism’ and ‘Secularism’ and democracy and would uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India”.
–IANS
pds/rad
Disclaimer
The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by BhaskarLive.in and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
Through this website you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of BhaskarLive.in We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, BhaskarLive.in takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.
For any legal details or query please visit original source link given with news or click on Go to Source.
Our translation service aims to offer the most accurate translation possible and we rarely experience any issues with news post. However, as the translation is carried out by third part tool there is a possibility for error to cause the occasional inaccuracy. We therefore require you to accept this disclaimer before confirming any translation news with us.
If you are not willing to accept this disclaimer then we recommend reading news post in its original language.
