Classification Of Fundamental Rights

Part-III of the Indian constitution is referred to as the constitution's cornerstone, and it, along with Part-IV (DirectivePrinciples of State Policy), forms the Constitution's conscience. This section of the Constitution has been dubbed "India's Magna Carta." Part III of the Constitution, from Articles 12 to 35, contains the Fundamental Rights. The framers of the Constitution took inspiration from the United States Constitution in this regard (i.e., Bill of Rights). They are justiciable, which means that if and when they are broken, people can take them to court to have them enforced.

 

• Fundamental Rights are individual rights that can be enforced against private individuals, with the exception of Art. 15 (2), Article 17, Article 18(3-4), Article 23 and Article 24, which can be enforced against private individuals as well. When private individuals violate the rights available only against State action, there are no constitutional remedies available, only ordinary legal remedies.

 

• Fundamental rights are not absolute, and Parliament may impose reasonable limitations. The restriction could be based on the advancement of SCs, STs, OBCs, women, and children; general public order; decency, morality, India's sovereignty and integrity; state security, friendly relations with foreign states, and so on. The courts will have to decide whether such restrictions are reasonable or not. As a result, they strike a balance between individual rights and societal rights, between individual liberty and social control.

 

• The Supreme Court defends and guarantees them. As a result, the aggrieved party can go straight to the Supreme Court, rather than filing an appeal against the high court's decision.

 

• They aren't sacred or irreversible. They can only be curtailed or repealed by a constitutional amendment act, not by a regular act. Furthermore, this can only be done without affecting the Constitution's "basic structure."

 

• Except for the rights guaranteed by Articles 20 and 21, they can be suspended during the operation of a National Emergency. Furthermore, only when an emergency is declared on the grounds of war or external aggression (i.e., external emergency) and not on the grounds of armed rebellion can the six rights guaranteed by Article 19 be suspended (i.e., internal emergency).

 

• Article 31A (saving of laws providing for the acquisition of estates, etc. ), Article 31B (validation of certain acts and regulations included in the 9th Schedule), and Article 31C limit their scope of operation (saving of laws giving effect to certain directive principles).

• The Parliament can limit or prohibit their application to members of the armed forces, paramilitary forces, police forces, intelligence agencies, and similar services (Article 33).

 

• Their use may be limited while martial law is in effect in any given area. Military rule imposed under unusual circumstances to restore order is known as martial law (Article 34). It's not the same as declaring a state of emergency.

 

• The majority of them are directly enforceable (self-executing), while a few can be enforced only if a law is enacted to give effect to them. To ensure uniformity across the country, such a law can only be passed by Parliament, not by state legislatures (Article 35).

 

1) Right to equality (Articles 14–18)

2) Right to freedom (Articles 19–22)

3) Right against exploitation (Articles 23–24)

4) Right to freedom of religion (Articles 25–28)

5) Cultural and educational rights (Articles 29–30)

6) Right to property (Article 31)

7) Right to constitutional remedies (Article 32)

 

The 44th Amendment Act of 1978, however, removed the right to property from the list of Fundamental Rights. Article 300-A of Part XII of the Constitution establishes it as a legal right. As a result, there are only six Fundamental Rights in place right now. Another obvious classification is from the perspective of the people to whom they are available. As a result, some are only available to citizens, while others are available to everyone, including citizens, foreigners, and legal entities such as corporations and companies.

 

• Citizens have the following Fundamental Rights: (a) Protection from discrimination based on religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth (Article 15); (b) Equality of opportunity in public employment (Article 16); (c) Freedom of expression, assembly, association, movement, residence, and profession (Article 19); and (d) Cultural and educational rights of minorities (Article 20). (Article 29 and 30).

 

• All citizens and foreigners in India have access to certain Fundamental Rights. (a) Equality before the law and equal protection of the people by law (Article 14); (b) Protection against ex post facto laws, double punishment, and self-incrimination (Article 20); (c) Protection of life and personal liberty against action without legal authority (Article 21); (d) Protection of life and personal liberty against action without legal authority (Article 22); (d)

 

(e) Freedom of religion (Article 25); (f) Freedom to pay taxes for the promotion of any particular religion (Article 27); (g) Freedom to attend any religious programme or worship and study in State educational institutions (Article 28).

 

Some of the Fundamental Rights are worded in a negative way, as if they are prohibitions on the state (for example, Article 14 says "The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law..."). Others, such as religious freedom and cultural and educational rights, confer positive benefits on individuals.

 

Classification of Fundamental Rights based on Extent of Limitation:

A classification can also be made based on the degree of legislative power limitation imposed by the various Fundamental Rights. On the one hand, we have some Fundamental Rights, such as Article 21, which are directed against the Executive but do not impose any restrictions on the Legislature (however, this scenario has changed since the Supreme Court of India discovered "due process" in the constitution in the Maneka Gandhi case). On the other hand, some Rights, such as Articles 15, 17, 18, 20, and 24, are intended to be absolute limitations on legislative power. In the middle are the rights guaranteed by Article 19, on which the Legislature may impose reasonable restrictions in the public interest.