INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - JANUARY 1st - JANUARY 15th
- 2008
APEX COURT REFUSES TO DELETE THE WORD 'SOCIALIST' FROM PREAMBLE
The Supreme Court has refused to entertain a suggestion in a PIL which had sought deletion of the word "socialist" from the Constitution. The word "socialist" was added through the 42nd Amendment to the Constitution.
A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justice R V Raveendran and Justice J M Panchal said, "Why do you (petitioner) take socialism in a narrow sense defined by (the) Communists. In broader sense, it means welfare measures for the citizens. It is a facet of democracy."
The court was hearing a PIL seeking direction to delete the word "socialist" from the Preamble to the Constitution on the ground that it was originally not there, and addition of the word amounted to re-writing of it.
"It hasn't got any definite meaning. It gets different meaning in different times," the bench observed.
However, it agreed to hear the PIL which also sought to strike down the provision of the Representation of People Act (RPA) requiring a political party to adhere to socialism for being recognised.
The court will look into the issue of derecognising political parties which have wrongly shown allegiance to socialism in their manifesto despite their contrary objectives.
The court, after hearing the contention of the petitioner, issued notices to the Centre and the Election Commission.
"It is contrary to the Constitution and to its democratic foundations that political parties be called upon to swear allegiance only to a particular mindset or ideology," said senior advocate Fali S Nariman, appearing for the petitioner, Kolkatta-based NGO Good Governance India Foundation.
Mr. Nariman said, "Introducing the word 'socialist' in the Preamble breaches the basic structure and it is wholly inconsistent." "The attempt to deliberately tunnel the collective view in one ideological direction is also a grave breach of the liberty provisions of the Constitution," Mr Nariman said, seeking direction to strike down Sec 29A of the Representation of People Act.
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