India’s strength lies in its Constitution, says CJI B R Gavai

Lucknow: Chief justice of India B R Gavai on Saturday said that India’s strength lays in its Constitution.

Speaking at a seminar on ‘Constitution and Constitutionalism: The Philosophy of B R Ambedkar’, at Allahabad University in Prayagraj, the CJI said that Ambedkar was a true nationalist.

‘’Despite there being some issues inside and outside the country, India is still united and strong and the credit for the same goes to the Constitution,’’ the CJI said.

He cited the examples of Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and said that India had been able to protect the fundamental rights only because of its Constitution.

‘’If the Constitution is the structure, then constitutionalism is the soul and the soul believes that the public representatives elected by the people will be accountable to the public,’’ he added.

The CJI also said that some people criticised the Collegium system of appointment of the judges on the ground that India was the only country where the judges appoint the judges but it was completely true. ‘’The government is also involved in this process,’’ he said.

The CJI said that also referred to the provision of single citizenship in the Constitution and said that it was because of Ambedkar. ‘’It unites the country……during wars and emergencies the Constitution gives powers to the Union…..The Constitution has guided at every step in India to ensure political, economic and social equality,’’ he added.

He said that there was no clash between the fundamental rights and the directive principles of state policy. ‘’Both are complementary to each other,’’ he remarked.

Earlier the CJI also took part in the annual day celebrations of an Inter College at Kaushambi established in the name of Maheshwari Prasad, the grand=father of Justice Vikram Nath and exhorted the teachers to contribute to the future building of the students.