Prof K L Bhatia
“The Love of Justice is, in most men,
merely the fear of suffering injustice.”
“Those who denounce injustice do so not because they are afraid of doing it but of suffering it”. (C. K. Allen, Aspects of Justice)The day 14th April is important in the modern history of post-independence India in memoriam of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, an architect and Founder Author of the Textual Constitution of India. We pay Pushpanjali Shradhanjali to him. Social justice has been embedded in the Constitution of India as an entrenched immutable foundational fundamental being the indestructible basic structure. It applies equally to haves and have-nots (underserved) segments of the society, which is inherent in the rich majestic constitutional language of Preamble, Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy. To know the views of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar concerning social justice, it may be worth recalling to knowing what social justice means; what is its genesis; what is its grammar; and what does it aspire for? The expression social justice needs correct conception as well as perception even much beyond the views concerned with ‘public welfare’, or the modern ‘welfare state’ or ‘welfare as the by-product of economic action’. However, social justice is not only difficult but hard to define, because ever since men have begun to reflect upon their relations with each other and upon the vicissitudes of the human lot, they have been pre-occupied with the meaning of justice. Vocabulary is infinite to the miscellany of the term justice. A miscellany of adjectives seem to have been chosen attached to different kinds of justice, viz., distributive justice, synallagmatic justice, natural justice, positive justice, written justice, unwritten justice, political justice, social justice, economic justice, commutative justice, recognitive justice, juridical justice, sub-juridical justice, constitutional justice, administrative justice, providential justice. educative justice, corporative justice, national justice, international justice, and parental justice.
Irrespective of this wealth of phraseology, it is the fact that man alone is the true subject and object of justice. The literature on social justice is utmost vast that anything new can be said of its qualities, characteristics, conception and operation. Justice as pure virtue is universally deemed to be in the domain of morality. Justice is a social virtue. The virtue of justice expresses an obligation towards others. Justice as social virtue is to maintain equilibrium or harmony in human affairs. Thus, social justice is an art which implies just, fair and reasonable guidance to all the dispensers of justice-according- to-law is necessary in society to establish some accepted standards of the common good.
The Apex Court of India has unequivocally expounded that social justice as an objective of the Constitution is an inarticulate major premise which is personal and individual to every court and every judge , depending on the judges’ outlook on life and society, and laws cannot be interpreted without reference to social justice to the achievement of which our country India that is Bharat is pledged since its inception.
Social justice or distributive justice or compensatory justice is a quest for justice within the domain of LAW: It is a quest for Liberal (L), Affiant/Affiance (A), and Workable (W). Social justice, opines Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer in ‘Social Justice: Sunset or Dawn’, in a comprehensive sense includes both economic justice and social justice. The concept of social justice thus takes within its sweep the objective of removing all inequalities and affording equal opportunities to all citizens in social affairs as well as economic activities.
Part IV of our Constitution entitled as Directive Principles of State Policy is the soul of the instrument of instructions in the nature of Social Policy with the direction to the State to strive to achieve the goals social justice through the instrumentalities of law, schemes and other mechanisms. Granville Austin in ‘The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation’ beautifully espouse this soul of our Constitution thus: “In the Directive Principles, however, one finds an even clearer statement of the social revolution. They aim at making the Indian masses free in the positive sense, free from the abject physical conditions that had prevented them from fulfilling their best selves. … The essence of the Directive Principles lies in Article 38. … The Constitution was to foster the achievement of many goals, transcendent among them was that of social revolution. Through this revolution would be fulfilled the basic needs of the common man”.
Be that as it may, the concept of social justice has varied with age and clime. Thus, our Constitution envisages tripartite picturesque of social justice, namely, Justice — social, economic and political is directed in the Preamble; socio-economic justice is procured by the Directive Principles; justice — social and political is secured by Fundamental Rights. The quintessence of Justice is the liberation from socio-economic subjection and economic actualization of the goal of full and free development of every Indian individual. Thus, in broader perspective social justice is the end.
Succinctly, Ambedkar’s social justice vision may be “That true Self-love and Social Justice are the same”, which he presents in three words: liberty, equality and fraternity. From the backdrop of this, the contours of Ambedkar’s social justice vision are directed towards the awakening of the underserved segments of the society, and securing the political, social and educational safeguards to such classes. His philosophy was occupied with social amelioration, political enlightenment and spiritual awakening. Besides, he had deep faith in fundamental human rights, in the equal rights of man and woman, in the dignity of the individual, in social and economic justice, in the promotion of social progress and better standards of life with peace and security in all spheres of human life. In an ocean within a tear, he touched nothing that he did not adorn.
Social justice per se aims at removing all inequalities and affording equal opportunity to all citizens in social affairs as well as economic activities. The Constitution of India brings a renaissance in the concept of social justice when it weaves a trinity of it in the preamble, the Directive Principles and the Fundamental Rights. This trinity is the core of the commitment to the social revolution; this is the conscience of the Constitution; it is born from the womb of the Freedom Struggle. The trinity of social justice is woven in the Preambulary fabric to Constitute India into a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic and to Secure to all its citizens: Justice — social, economic and political; Liberty — thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; Equality — status and opportunity; and to Promote among them all Fraternity Assuring the Dignity of the individual and the Unity and Integrity of the Nation.
This indeed is social justice guaranteed by the Constitution of India because it strives to create a balancing wheel between freedom, political and economic, and indeed, makes the survival of democracy. The Preambulary language vouches for social justice for all the Indians irrespective of their religion, caste, sex, place of birth, descent, residence, and such a type of social justice aspires to cleanse the unity in diversity heading progressively to egalitarian State. In the backdrop of this, Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer has expounded: “Social Justice is the end; judicial justice is the means; the legislative and executive operations are human engineering, and together the three branches of Government have to work in comity so that the Constitution may fulfill what the founding fathers designed”.
(The author is Former Dean Faculty of Law and Director The Law School, University of Jammu)
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