HON'BLE SHRI RANGANATH MISHRA A

v.

UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.

JULY31,2003

[V.N. KHARE, CJ., K.G. BALAKRISHNAN AND S.B. SINHA, JJ.] B

Constitution of India, 1950:

Articles 32 and 51-A-Fundamental duties-Additions to and

implementation of -A letter. requesting the Supreme Court to issue directidns C

to State to educate citizens in fundamental duties-Treated as writ petition-­

Recommendations of National Commission to review the working of the

Constitution accepting recommendations

of

J.S. Verma Committee on

operationalisation

of fundamental duties of citizens-Held, since the

Government

of India would take notice of the recommendations of the D

Commission/Committee, it would also consider the same in its right earnestness

and take appropriate steps for their implementation as expeditiously as

possible-Epistolary jurisdiction.

CIVIL

ORIGINAL JURISDICTION Writ Petition (C) No. 239 of

1998. E

Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India.

K. Parasaran, (AC), G. Umapathy, (AC) Prateek Jalan, Ms. Anil Katiyar,

P. Parmeswaran, Rajiv Mehta, Ms. Mohan Lal, Ms. Kriti Renu Mishra (NJ>),

Ranjan Mukherjee, Tara Chandra Sharma, Rajeev Sharma, Ms. Neel~m F

Sharma, Ranji Thomas, Ms. Bharati Upadhyaya, V.N. Raghupathy, Sushil

Kumar Jain, (NP), KH. Nobin Singh, S.Wasim A. Qadri, S.K. Dwivedi, Dee11ak

Kumar Singh, Ajay K. Agrawal (NP), Ms. Chitra Markandaya (NP), Ashok

Mathur (NP), J.S. Attri, Addi. Adv. General for State of Himachal Pradesh,

Naresh

K.

Sharma (NP), K.R. Sasiprabu, G. Prakash (NP), Sanjay R. Hegl:le,

Satya Mitra, Anil K. Mishra, Satish K. Agnihotri, K. Ram Kumar (NP), Ms. G

· Krishna Sarma, Ms. Asha G. Nair, V.K. Sidatharan, Ms. A. Subhashini, V

1 G.

Pragasam, Kumar Rajesh

Singh, 8.B. Singh, Ms. Hemantika Wahi, Ms. Monika

Bapna, Anil Shrivastav, S.V. Deshpande, S.S. Shinde, Mukesh K. Giri, Praveen

Kumar Rai, Mahabir Singh (NP), Sanjay K. Shandilya, Ms. V.D. Khanna,

59 H

60 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2003] SUPP. 2 S.C.R.

A Ani Suhrawardy, P.N. Ramalingam, V.Balaji, A Mariarputham, Ms. Aruna

Mathur, S.S. Gulathi and R.S. Suri for the appearing parties.

The following Order of the Court was delivered:

A letter written by the petitioner herein to the Chief Justice

of India

B requesting this Court to issue necessary directions to the

State to educate its

citizen

in the matter of fundamental duties so that a right balance may emerge

between rights and duties, was treated as a writ petition. This Court appointed Shri K. Parasaran, Sr. Advocate as Amicus Curiae.

As the petition raised a question

as to the correctness of a decision of

C this Court in Bijoe Emmanuel v.

State of Kera/a, [1986] 3 SCC 615, requiring

reconsideration, the matter was directed to be listed before a Constitution

Bench by order dated 9th April, 200 l. However, a Constitution Bench by

order dated 21st November, 2001 recalled the order dated 19th February,

2001and9th April, 2001 and directed the matter to be placed before a Bench

D of three Judges. The matter has been placed before this Bench pursuant

thereto.

When the matter was taken up for hearing, the learned Amicus Curiae

brought to our notice the Report

of the National Commission to Review the

Working

of the Constitution wherein a report made by a Committee commonly

E known as 'Justice

J.S. Verma Committee' on operationalization of fundamental

duties

of citizens has been accepted and a strong suggestion has been made

for their early implementation. The Commission,

inter alia, recommends :

F

G

H

"3. 40. 2 Education is not confined only to the time spent in schools

and colleges. Education begins at birth in the subconscious and

continues till death. Anyone who says that he has nothing more to

learn

is already brain-dead. It follows that the influences that play on

a child at home are

of great importance.

Parents should understand

that education begins at home, the examples they set, the environment

of enlightenment and tolerance that is necessary to produce good

citizens cannot

be sub-contracted to formal schooling important though

this

is.

Schemes should, therefore, be framed that include parents in

social activities that have as their objective the country's age-old

traditions, its Welcome to the persecuted

of every faith, its virtues of

tolerance of and respect for all religions and a certain pride in

belonging to this land and in being considered as Indian. The highest

office

in our democracy is the office of citizen; this is not only a

... .

HON'BLE SHRI RANGANATH MISHRA v. U.0.1. ,61

platitude, it must translate into reality. The distinction is not illusory. A

This country has given far too much indulgence to an attitude of

mind that acts on the question -what is there in it for me?

Education and the process

of inculcating unselfishness and a sense of

obligation to one's fellowmen should inspire the question -where

does my duty lie ? The transformation has the potential to make our

B

nation strong, invincible and able to command the respect of the

world .

3. 40. 3 (i) The Commission recommends that the first and

forell)ost

step required by the Union and State Governments is to sensitise the

people and to create general awareness of the provisions, of C

fundamental duties amongst the citizens on the lines recommended

by the Justice Verma Committee on the subject. Consideration should

be given to the ways and means by which Fundamen~al Duties could

be popularized and made effective; (ii) right to freedom

of religion

and right

of minorities and fellow citizens respected; (iii)

reform of D

the whole process of education is an immediate but immense need,

as

is the need to free it from governmental or political control;

it is

only through education that will power to adhere to our Fundamental

Duties as citizens can be inculcated; and (iv) duty

to vote at elections,

actively participate in the democratic process

of governance and to

pay taxes should be included in article

SIA .....

" E

In its recommendations, Justice Verma Committee in Chapter entitled

"Salient Recommendations" under the heading 'Operationalization Overview'

observes as under :

"Duties are observed by individuals as a result

of dictates of the F

social system and the environment in which one lives, under the

influence

of role models, or on account of punitive provision of law.

It may be necessary to enact suitable legislation wherever necessary

to require obedience

of obligations by the citizens. If the

exi~ting

laws are inadequate to enforce the needed discipline, the legislative

vacuum needs to be filled.

If legislation and judicial directions are G

available and still there are violations of Fundamental Duties by the

citizens, this would call for

other strategies for making them

operational.

The desired enforceability can be better achieved by providing

H

A

B

c

D

62 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2003] SUPP. 2 S.C.R.

not merely for legal sanctions but also combining it with social

sanctions and to facilitate the performance

of the task through exemplar

role models. The element

of compulsion in legal sanction when

combined with the natural urge for obedience

of the norms to attract

social approbation would make the citizens willing participants in the

exercise. The real task, therefore,

is to devise methods which are a

combination

of these aspects to ensure a ready acceptance of the

programme by the general citizenry and youth, in particular.

The Committee

is strongly of the view that the significance of

dignity of the individual in all its facets and the objective of overall

development

of the personality of the individual must be emphasized

in

the curriculum at all the stages of education. This requires

consciousness

of citizenship values which are a combination of rights

and duties, and together give rise to social responsibilities. Methods

must be devised to operationalize this concept as a constitutional

value in

our educational curriculum and in co-curricular activities, in

schools and

colleges."

Various recommendations have ·been made in the said report as regards

the mode and manner to be adopted for generating awareness and

consciousness of the citizens towards their fundamental duties.

E Keeping in view the fact that the Government of India would take

F

notice of the recommendations of the aforesaid Commission/Committee, we

agree with Shri K. Parasaran that the same may be considered in its right

earnestness by the Central Government and we accordingly direct it to do so

as also to take appropriate steps for their implementation as expeditiously as

possible.

As presently advised, we need not go into the other questions raised

in

this writ petition. This writ petition is, therefore, disposed of in

the aforesaid

terms.

G We record our appreciation for the valuable services rendered by the

learned Amicus Curiae

Shri K. Parasaran, Sr. Adv. and Shri G. Umapathay,

Adv. in this matter.

R.P. Petition disposed of.

.-