Equality is regarded as the basis of Democracy.

Equality implies treatment

and opportunities of all people alike. it presumes that there must not be any
discrimination when it comes to opportunities. Right to Equality is essential for
all individuals for their development. As rightly said by Thomas Jefferson,
that all men are born equal and its man himself who creates difference
between individual. However, equality is a broad term and contains many
exceptions in our Constitution.

Today, I Pranita vailaya, will be explaining the Right to equality, article 14 to

18.

What is Right to equality?

Democracy can thrive and flourish only if individuals in the society are treated
equally without discrimination. The framers of the Constitution worked to
remove the existing socio economical inequalities and enable the diverse
communities to enjoy the rights and liberties guaranteed under the constitution.

The Right to equality being the basic feature of Constitution, ensures absence of
legal discrimination on grounds of caste, race, religion, sex, and place of birth
and ensures equal rights to all citizens. 

Under the Indian Constitution, right to equality is divided under the following
subheadings:

1. Equality before law (Article 14)

2. Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, caste, race, sex or
place of birth (Article 15)
3. Equality of opportunity in matters of public employment (Article 16)
4. Abolition of untouchability (Article 17)
5. Abolition of titles (Article 18)
In general sense, everybody here is capable of understanding Article 14 of the
Indian Constitution i.e. “Right to Equality”. Although it has been 74 years since
independence, our country is still fighting Evils like discrimination. There are still
places where people are not treated equally and discriminated. Because of this
scenario, our Constitution-makers added Article 14.

Article 14 basically states that “The State shall not deny to any person
equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the
territory of India”

equality before law, According to Jennings means the law should be equal and
should be equally administered, that like should be treated alike.” (JENNINGS)

Article 14 consists of Equality before law, Equal protection of the

laws, Rule of law.

Equality before law

 It is taken from English Common law.

 implies the absence of any special privileges in any person.
 Implies no discrimination before the law.
 every individual is subject to the jurisdiction of ordinary courts
irrespective of their rank or position.

Coming towards Equal protection of the laws

 It is similar to equality before the law.

 Directs that equal protection secured to all within the territorial
jurisdiction. such protection should be without any favor and
discrimination.
 It is based on the last clause of the first section of the 14 th amendment
of the US Constitiuion.
  implies that equal treatment both in the privileges and liabilities
imposed by the law.
 To ensure that every person enjoys equal protection, it is the state
obligation to bring about necessary socio and economic changes.
.

Rule of law

Rule of law as coined by A. V. Dicey, states that all individuals, government
and other institutions should obey and be governed by law and not by any
arbitrary action by an individual or group of individuals. It also states that
governmental decisions should be based on legal and moral principles
embedded in the supreme law, the Indian Constitution. This theory of Dicey has
three pillars, they are:

1. Supremacy of law states that There should be an absence of

arbitrary power and that no person should be punished except for a
breach of law and the offence should be proved according to legal
procedure.

2. Equality before law

All individuals, irrespective of their rank or position should be subjected to

ordinary law of land which seeks to ensure that law is administered in a just and
fair manner. (It has also been embedded in Preamble and Article 7 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It implies ‘law gives equal justice to
all’).

3. The Predominance of legal spirit

Dicey believed that there should be an enforcing authority to enforce effectively

the above two principles. According to him, such enforcing authority should be
‘courts’.
Exceptions to the Rule of Law
But there are Exceptions to the rule of law, such as, equality before law does
not imply that powers given to public and private citizen will be the same. For
example a cop has the ability to arrest, whereas no private individual possess
this power. Which doesn’t mean infringement of the rule of law because if there
is misuse of power by public official than they must be punished by common
court in a same manner as common citizen.

But that being said, the rule of law does not mean certain classes of people are
liable to extraordinary rules. For example, it is mandatory for military individual
to follow military law. Likewise, medical professionals are exposed to the
guidelines confined by the Medical Council of India, etc. whereas the president
of India and state governors are afforded immunity under article 361 of the
Indian constitution which states that they will be not liable to any court And No
criminal proceedings will be founded or proceeded against them during their
term of office.

moving ON TO article 15 which is divided into 5 clauses.

Article 15 (1) of the constitution prohibits the state from discrimination on the
basis of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.

Protection under this provision can be taken by any citizen when he is subjected
to discrimination of right given by the constitution.

 (In the case of Nain Sukh Das v State of UP,

Supreme Court REJECTED a State law that approved elections on the
basis of separate electorates for members of different religious
communities as such discrimination was based on religion.)
Article 15 (2) Article 15(2) specifically states that no citizen shall be denied access to
public shops, restaurants, hotels and places of public entertainment etc. It also
adds that no citizen shall be subject to restriction to the use of wells, tanks, bathing
ghats, roads and places of public resort that is maintained wholly or partly out of State
funds or dedicated to the use of the general public.

Although first 2 clause of article 15 protects against the discrimination on the

set grounds there is an exception to the general rule which is the Special
provision and reservation to women and children which is article (15. clause 3),
15. Clause 4 for socially and educationally backward class, 15. clause 5 with
regard to admission into education institution whether aided or unaided by the
state. and article 15. Clause 6 for the economically weaker section.

ARTICLE 15(3) Special provisions for women and children

States ‘Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any special
provision for women and children.’

For instance, maternity relief, although it apparently discriminates on the basis of

gender, but does not violate Article 15 clause (1) because it is a special provision
for their benefit.
 It implies that the Parliament has the right to make special provision.
 The intention of the framers of the constitution was to protect the
interests of children and women because these sections were
considered comparatively weaker sections of the society and the need
for such provision was felt for their upliftment.

Article 15 clause (4) empowers the State to make special provisions to promote
the interests and ensure the welfare of socially and educationally backward
classes of the society, or Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes.

In M.R. Balaji v. State of Mysore, AIR 1963 S.C. 649, the government
reserved seats in the Medical and Engineering schools in the State as 28% for
backward castes, 22 % for more backward classes ; 18 % Scheduled Castes
and Tribes. The court held that the sub-grouping made between backward
castes was not justified under Article 15 (4). Caste isn’t the sole criteria for
deciding backwardness. Reservation up to 68% is a “fraud on the
Constitution”. Article 15 (4) just empowers the State to make special provision
and not exclusive provision for the backward castes.
.

Article 15 Clause (5), which was added later, allowing the State to make special
provisions with regard to admissions into educational institutions, including
private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the State.

Article 15 (6) A sixth clause was added in 2019, which opens the road for the
State to make special provisions for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).
This clause allows the State to make special provisions for Economic Weaker
section other than those mentioned in clauses (4) and (5) with regard to
admission into educational institutions including private educational institutions.

Article 16 which talks about Equality of opportunity

Article 16 (1) states There shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens
in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under
the State

Article 16.2

While giving employment in an office under the state, the government

cannot differentiate its citizen on the basis of Religion, Caste, Birth, Gender
or descent. And no candidate will be called ineligible on the basis of these
five criteria.

Article 16.3

India is a country with 22 official languages with various jobs in which employees
have to deal with local people. Making it important for the employee to know the
language of the state he/she is working in or is required to be from the same state.
Meaning our Constitution allows the parliament to make residence related
requirements for any employment or appointment in an office controlled by the
state.

Article 16. (4) State shall not be prevented from making any provision for the
reservation or welfare of any backward class of citizens, which in the opinion
of the state is not fully represented in the services under the state.

2. But it is important to note that it can only be exercised to reserve posts

for backward class.

3. Important to note is the fact that there's no definition of backward class

in the constitution and therefore it is left on the state to determine if a
particular class is backward or not on the basis of reasonable criteria which
if not followed can be challenged in court.

Article 16. (5) To understand 16 (5), let’s first read 16 CLAUSE (1) : There shall be
equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or
appointment to any office under the State.

Thus 16 (1) ensures equality of opportunity in terms of public employment.

Now CLAUSE 5 OF ARTICLE 16 : In effect it creates an exception to article 16 (1)

where reservation of an office of any religious institution for a person professing that
particular religion will not be considered as a violation of the Fundamental Right to
Equality in terms of providing equality of opportunity of employment.

This is also in line with Article 26 (Dealing with another fundamental right- the Right
to Freedom of Religion) where all religiously recognized places and sects, subject to
public order, morality and health, are allowed to manage their own affairs in matters
of religion, set up institutions of their own for charitable or religious purposes, and
own, acquire and manage a property in accordance with law.
What it means practically is that, say for example, an institution of religion X which
has a governing body, can specifically reserve the posts for members of the
governing body for only members of religion X (without violating the Right to
Equality of Employment.)

Article 17- Abolition of Untouchability.

. The Article states that the practice of untouchability is prohibited in all forms.

 To make an untouchability law further strong, parliament passed

an Untouchability (offences) the Act in 1955.
 However, this act was further amended and also renamed in the
year of 1976 as Protection of the Civil Rights Act, 1955.

Thus, practice of untouchability is an offense under the Untouchability Offences

under Protection of the Civil Rights Act,1955. and anyone doing so is
punishable by law. This Act states that whatever is open to the general public
should be open to all the citizens of India.

Surya Narayan Choudhary vs. State of Rajasthan [25] The division Bench of the
Rajasthan High Court in this case disapproved in strong words the prevailing
practice of purification of harijans alone before permitting them to enter into the
temple for worship by making them wear 'Kanthimala', sprinkling them with
"gangajal" and giving them 'tulsidal'. The Court ordered that the practice shall be
discontinued forthwith since this condition imposed on harijan devotees alone is
discriminatory. This practice violates the right of equality guaranteed to Harijans
by Arts 14, 15 and 17 of the Constitution, the Court held.

Article 18. The Article 18 of the Constitution forbids the State from conferring
any titles on the citizens of India and also, they are prohibited from accepting
any title given by a foreign State. However, Military and academic distinctions
can be conferred upon.
Balaji Raghavan/S.P.Anand vs Union of India on 15 December, 1995
(case)
The constitutional validity of four awards introduced by
Government of India which are, Bharat Ratna, Padma
Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri was
challenged before the court. SC upheld the constitutional
validity of these award stating that such awards don’t
violate the provisions of Art. 18 as they do not come
under the ambit of titles.

Thankyou.