Thread by @barandbench

Global Virtual Conference hosted by Jindal Global Law School of OP Jindal Global University:

Supreme Court Judge, Justice DY Chandrachud to render Constitutional Day Lecture shortly.

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@JindalGlobalUNI

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#ConstitutionDay
#ConstitutionofIndia

Presidential Address to be given by Professor (Dr) Upendra Baxi.

Event begins. It can be viewed live here:

Prof (Dr) C Raj Kumar, Founding Vice-Chancellor of JGU commences welcome address.

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Justice Chandrachud commences his address.

Chandrachud: These times of forced challenges for students and faculty, I am sure many long to return back to campus.

Chandrachud: I sure miss the lectures in the lawns of St Stephen's in the cold wintery sun of the late 1970s. Likewise, the conversations on the Constitution in the Campus Law Centre

Chandrachud: Memories bring nostalgia, in this case, about unpolluted Delhi and so much more. However, these unprecedented times have also revealed our capabilities to adapt, to empathise, to acknowledge privileges...

Chandrachud: Cities witnessed mass exodus of migrant labourers. Our health sector was overwhelmed. Many students lost access... prisons became susceptible to the virus.

Chandrachud: How can we prevent social inequality from becoming magnified in terms of the economic crisis? How can we fulfil out Constitutional commitment to an equal, liberal democratic order in a market-driven economy?

Chandrachud: How do we as citizens ensure that State institutions continue to uphold civil liberties in public emergencies? What is the role of courts in the realisation of liberal, democratic, Constitutional values?

Chandrachud: A charge often made against the Indian Constitution Project is that the Constitution is an elite document.

Chandrachud: Instead of emerging from popular pressure within the society, and being framed by individuals, reflecting its full richness and diversity, the argument is that the #Constitution was a creation of India's political elite.

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Chandrachud: Dr Ambedkar was cognisant that while the Constitution was imbued with ideas of liberty, equality, fraternity - Its success would depend on how ordinary people would work it.

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Chandrachud: The Indian encounter with Constitutionalism preceded the inception of the Constitution.

The Indian nationalism movement was self-consciously a Constitutional movement. It eschewed violence as a means for achieving political goals...

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Chandrachud: Our framers recognised for our Constitution to endure and liberal democracy to survive, the State must fulfil its duty of ensuring an equal distribution of resources.

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Chandrachud: It has to eliminate institutional and societal barriers on individuals and groups that prevent their self-actualisation and their participation in our vibrant democracy.

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Chandrachud: To forestall violent upheavals and ensure the resilience of Constitutional methods for expressing discontent, the State must remain committed to achieving equality and protecting minorities.

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Chandrachud: As Justice Subba Rao reminded us, a Constitution is only permanent, and not eternal.
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Chandrachud: There is nothing to choose - between destruction by amendment or by revolution. The former is brought by totalitarian rule, which cannot brook constitutional checks and the other by the discontentment brought by misrule.

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Chandrachud: If either happens, the Constitution will be a scrap of paper.

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Chandrachud: Our Constitution is a mobilisational tool for social movements. Its values provide a unifying force in recognising, acknowledging and respecting our diversity and plural culture. It is a powerful moral register.

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Chandrachud: The ability of the Constitution to inspire citizens' movements is unique. In doing so, it ensures we cannot overlook the importance of citizen-interpretive practices.

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Chandrachud: The Constitution does not belong solely to lawyers and judges. The Constitution's aspirations and transformative vision transcend legalist formulae and esoteric legal debate.

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Chandrachud: While the preamble of the Constitution is not legally binding, it carries a far more important task.

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Chandrachud (on the Preamble): ... that of imprinting into our constitutional consciousness the values of justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity.

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Chandrachud: As long as we view the Preamble as our guiding light and strive to make its promise come alive, our country will remain on the path of a Constitutional, liberal democracy.

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Chandrachud speaks of the marginalised groups who have used the Constitution's vocabulary to seek empowerment and advancement, including undertrial prisoners, SC/ST, women, members of the #LGBTQ community, slum dwellers, pavement dwellers etc.

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Chandrachud: Endowing courts with the expectation that they are the sole repositories of social change is unrealistic. In will breed cynicism of unrealised hopes.

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Chandrachud goes on to cite examples of cases where the Courts can play a vital role in fostering the growth of Constitutional and democratic values.

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Chandrachud: In cases and controversies brought to the court evidencing a deprivation of Constitutional and legal rights, the Supreme Court of India has not just the power, but the mandate to interfere.

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Chandrachud cites examples of the Gujarat Mazdoor Sabha case and the BK Pavitra cases.

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Chandrachud: The framers of the Constitution realised that in order to uproot caste-based inequality, State intervention in the nature of affirmative action is indispensible.

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Chandrachud: In BK Pavitra v Union of India, we found ourselves tackling negative stereotypes regarding the merit and efficiency of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, their candidates, couched in the seemingly neutral language of law...

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Chandrachud: Underlying our judgment, was the recognition that assumptions about merit cannot be divorced from social and economic privileges that have accrued to the forward castes...

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Chandrachud:... and the centuries of deprivation and discrimination suffered by the members of the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities.

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Chandrachud: We held that efficiency cannot be based on a stereotypical assumption that promotees from an affirmative action group of citizens drawn from the scheduled castes and tribes are not efficient.

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Chandrachud: We held that efficiency of administration in the affairs of the Union or the State must be defined in an inclusive sense, where diverse sections of society find representation as a true aspiration of governance by and for the people.

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Chandrachud: If this benchmark of efficiency is grounded in exclusion, it would produce a pattern of governance which is skewed against the marginalised.

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Chandrachud: If this benchmark of efficiency is grounded in equal access, our outcomes will reflect the commitment of the Constitution to produce a just, social order.

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Chandrachud: In the #Hathras rape incident that shocked the conscience of the nation, the Allahabad High Court took suo motu cognisance of the incident and framed questions including if the socio-economic status of the deceased family has been taken advantage of

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Chandrachud:... by the State authorities to oppress and deprive them of their Constitutional rights.

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Chandrachud: I cite this example only to drive home the importance of judicial intervention as a bulwark against the exercise of State power that militates against the principles of the Constitution.

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Chandrachud: Social action litigation has served as a powerful tool to correct deficiencies in govt delivery and to protect those at the receiving end of repression, administrative inefficiency and absence of legal protection.

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Chandrachud: ...Public spirited citizens need to bring forward petitions that are well focused and narrowly tailored. I mean, litigation that is based on strong evidence.

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Chandrachud: ... litigation based on broad stakeholder consultation and genuinely representing the voices of those on whose behalf it is brought forward.

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Chandrachud: Only in this way, we can counter the well-founded concern that social action litigation is being transformed from an instrument to transform the impoverished and neglected into a means to entrench and exacerbate existing social inequities.

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Chandrachud: As Arun Thiruvengadam has argued, organisations pursuing social causes should be facilitated in developing a bottom-up litigation strategy so as to mark a return to the foundational roots of PIL

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Chandrachud recalls that more than lawyers, it was social entrepreneurs who approached the court in public interest litigation in the early years.

Judges and lawyers have to play a facilitative role, he adds.

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Chandrachud refers to the NALSA case which upheld the right to self-identification of one's gender and laid down guidelines to promote the rights of transgender persons.

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Chandrachud: The framers of our Constitution laid down the cornerstone to create a legal and institutional infrastructure to promote a culture of Constitutionalism and liberal democracy. It now falls on each of us to play our part to ensure that we keep it that way.

Justice Chandrachud concludes his address.

Prof (Dr) C Raj Kumar thanks Justice Chandrachud for the address.

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Professor (Dr) Upendra Baxi commences his address.

Prof Baxi referring to what Justice Chandrachud has talked about: There are two takeaways from what he has said, at least for me.

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Prof Baxi: One is, how a progressive judiciary can empower, enlighten citizenship.

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Prof Baxi: And second, (from what Prof Raj Kumar has said), an enlightened citizenship must reject two false choices.

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Prof Baxi: One, the choice between political authoritarianism and human security. Second, as Justice Chandrachud indirectly said, between judicial despotism and enlightened citizenship.

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Prof Baxi: Supreme Court and High Courts have done wonders in dealing with the COVID situation, as we all know... we need both the courage of conviction and a sense of balance in dealing with issues of right to health, public health and collective security.

Prof Baxi speaks on climate change. Refers to global warming, glaciers melting, vanishing spaces and ecosystem, amazon fires.

Prof Baxi: We know all this.. that there is something called anthropogenic harm, although there is a difference of opinion on the extent of harm

Prof Baxi opines that climate change denial is a crime against humanity.

Prof Baxi: What is most unfortunate and completely avoidable is climate change denialism. This denialism is a crime against humanity and must be proclaimed as such

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Prof Baxi: Climate change denial furthers and promotes the jurisprudence of extinction.

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Prof Baxi: It is the task of the Government and the people together to fight this extinction of species and extinction of human lives.

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Prof Baxi refers to how legal research and legal education can promote a medium in which this "crime against humanity" can be developed and concretised

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Prof Baxi refers to three things said by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

Prof Baxi: Mohandas said, we must think about the connection between global citizenship and enlightened citizenship. We can’t be citizens of a nation without being citizens of the world.

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Prof Baxi adds: He said that he learnt this from his grandmother.

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Prof Baxi: He also said that the world is a huge family, “vasudhaiva kutumbakam”

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Thirdly, Prof Baxi says: Be part of the change you wish to be. There is enough for human need, he says, never enough for human greed

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Prof Baxi: Neither the ease of doing business index nor the gross happiness index... all these indices will enable us to fight extinction. What we need is a return to Gandhian thought and action.

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Prof Baxi concludes his address.

Prof Baxi: My time is up. But I do say, what we need is ancient wisdom to fight modern malaises like anthropogenic harm and COVID.

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Prof (Dr) Upasana Mahanta, JGU renders concluding remarks.

The session has come to an end.

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