UNIT-2

Right to Equality
2.1 Art. 14 2.1.2 Doctrine of Classification
2.1.2 Doctrine of Arbitrariness
2.1.3 Doctrine of Legitimate Expectation

Introduction
In general sense, everybody here is capable of understanding Article 14 of the Indian
Constitution i.e. “Right to Equality”. Even after 73 years of independence, our country is not able
to gain actual independence. Evils like discrimination are still prevailing in our country. Even the
one who created our Constitution suffered from this anathema. Even now there are some
places where people are not treated equally and they are discriminated on different basis like
religion, race, sex, caste, place of origin, etc.
By knowing the scenario of India our Constitution-makers added Article 14 in Indian Constitution
as the fundamental right to citizens as well as those who are not a citizen of our territory.
The main purpose of writing this article is to bring clarity about Article 14. When we see a
husband treating his wife badly, a girl who is not able to complete her education due to family
pressure, a lower caste man being shown inferior to upper caste people. These are examples of
discrimination. Here we can understand how important the role of the state is to maintain the
equality of citizens.
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”.
To treat all citizens equally is the basic concept of liberalism and Article 14 ensures the same to
our citizens. The liberty of any person is directly connected to the equality he/she is getting in
society.

Equality before Law

Our country as we all know is a democratic country and in fact the largest democratic country in
the world. Here all are independent to think about anything, do anything (with reasonable
restriction though) and our state is there to put reasonable restriction. In the eyes of law, all
persons within the territory of our country should be treated equally.
Equality before Law basically means that all persons should be treated equally no matter
whether they are poor or rich, male or female, upper caste or lower caste. This state cannot
provide any special privileges to anyone in the country. It is also known as legal equality.

Equality before the law and absolute equality

On one hand, Equality before Law prohibits providing any special privilege to any community or
people. It does not talk about equal treatment in equal circumstances. According to it, there
must be a very ideal condition and the state does not need to interfere in society by providing
additional privileges in society.
On the other hand Right to Equality is not absolute and has several exceptions to it.
Accordingly, equals should be treated equally. Equality before Law has several exceptions, for
example, the Immunity provided to the President and Governor. Reservation is also a typical
example that defines that the Right to Equality is not absolute and can be restricted (or rather
used properly) according to the need of the society.
In the very famous case of State of West Bengal v. Anwar Ali Sarkar, the question of whether
the Right to Equality is absolute or not was raised. Here Supreme Court held that the Right to
equality is not absolute. In this case, the State of Bengal was found to use its power arbitrarily to
refer any case to the Special Court which was made by them. It was thus held that the Act of
State of Bengal violates the Right to Equality.

Equality before the law and Rule of Law

We have already discussed the Equality before Law in detail however there is also a direct
connection between Equality before Law and Rule of Law. In Fact, the Rule of Law which is
given by Prof. Dicey says that no one here is beyond or above the law and is equal in front of
the law. Rule of Law guarantees every person the Equality before Law.
The Rule of Law states that in a country all should be treated equally and as there is no state
religion so it (state) should not discriminate against any religion here the concept of uniformity
should be applied. Basically, it is derived from Magna Carta (is a charter of rights signed in the
UK) which prohibits the arbitrary power of the state.

Equal protection of the Laws

This is one of the positive concepts of Equality. Equal protection of the law is incurred
from Section 1 of the 14th Amendment Act of the US constitution. According to this principle,
everybody who resides in India should be treated equally and will get equal protection of the
law. It guarantees all people inside the territory of India should be treated equally and the state
cannot deny it (for equal protection of the law).
It puts the positive obligation on the state to prevent the violation of rights. This can be done by
bringing socio-economic changes.
The same concept has been discussed in Stephens College v. The University of Delhi. In this
case, the admission process of college was checked and the main issue raised was the validity
of preference given to Christian students in the admission process. Here the Supreme Court
held that minority institution which is receiving aid from state funds is entitled to grant
preference or to reserve seats for the students of its community.
The Supreme Court held that differential treatment of candidates in the admission programme
does not violate Article 14 of Indian Constitution and it is needed for the minority section.
Doctrine Of Reasonable Classification

Background:

Doctrine of reasonable classification has been originated from Article 14 of Indian Constitution.
Article 14 is a fundamental right to equality to every citizen in the country. It is one of the most
important provisions of the constitution as it provides equality to all the people within the territory
of India.

It protects against any discrimination on grounds of religion, caste, race, gender, place of birth.
There are two features under Article14 - Equality before the law and Equal protection of the law.
Earlier, a reasonable classification test was conducted which tested whether there is reasonable
classification in the legislation i.e. the test was held to check the constitutionality.

Genesis:

Article 14 of the Indian Constitution 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. It can be conferred
from this statement that no one is above the law of the land and the Rule of Law shall prevail as
all are equal in the eyes of law. But this rule is not absolute and is subject to many exceptions.

The Rule of Law cannot prevent a certain class of persons from being subject to special laws,
hence, the State has the power to make laws operating differently on different classes of
people, in a way that the principle of equality of civil rights and equal protection of law is
followed. This is being known as the 'Doctrine of Reasonable Classification'.

Article 14 permits Reasonable Classification and not Class Legislation. Class Legislation means
making of improper discrimination by conferring certain privileges upon a class of persons
arbitrarily selected from a huge number of people. Thus, Class legislation violates equal
protection whereas, Reasonable Classification is always based on real and substantial
distinction.

Case Law:

In Ram Krishna Dalmia v. Justice S.R. Tendolkar, AIR 1958, the Supreme Court held that:
It is now well established that while Article 14 forbids class legislation, it does not forbid
reasonable classification for the purposes of legislation. It condemns discrimination not only by
a substantive law but also by a law of procedure.
Hence, Article 14 forbids the class legislation but it does not forbid reasonable classification,
however, these classifications must not be 'arbitrary, artificial or evasive'.

The doctrine of legitimate expectation

The doctrine of legitimate expectation is basically not a legal right but rather it is a moral
obligation on the part of the administration to look and make laws that provide equality to all
people in a territory. It gives the right of judicial review in administrative law to protect the
interest of people when public authority fails to do so (or when Public authority rescinds from the
representation made to a person).
It acts as a bridge between the expectation of individuals and any act of authority. However,
these expectations needed to be reasonable and logical that’s why they are called legitimate
expectations.
There are several instruments provided by the court for achieving the motive of authoritative law
(here motive is to meet the legitimate expectation). These instruments are provided to prevent
everyone against the misuse of power by the organs of the state. It put a type of
restriction( although it is a moral restriction) on a state to use its power arbitrarily.