The State has to be the first practitioner of Constitutional morality and protect the freedom of citizens to be different and curb the tendencies of majoritarianism, according to Gopal Subramanium, senior Advocate of the Supreme Court and former Solicitor General of India.
“There is asymmetry in society and the State should ignore it, every effort to achieve homogenisation or standardisation across all sections must be curbed as it violates the principle of Constitutional morality,” he said delivering the first D.V. Subba Rao Memorial Lecture organised jointly by Gayatri Vidya Parishad Centre for Policy Studies and Visakhapatnam Public Library here on Sunday.
No institution, Executive, Judiciary or Society, can claim infallibility and have to give due respect to Constitutional morality as all of them derive their existence from the Constitution, the former chairman of Bar Council of India said, explaining how disastrous it would be if all powers were concentrated on any one organ of our democracy.
Speaking on the importance of the Constitution and how it is a definitive guide to all organs of our democracy, he noted that April 24 was the anniversary of the most important judgment delivered by the Supreme Court – in the Keshavananda Bharati case apart from being the birth anniversary of one of the India’s finest legal luminaries D.V. Subba Rao.
Constitution represents the will of the people and the amendments brought in by the legislature reflect the changing aspirations of the people. Constitution is an enabler of all the principles of democracy and the Republic, he said. Freedom is the essence of Constitutional morality, he added.
“The Judiciary should realise that the view of the Chief Justice of India is not the view of an individual but of the institution. It is rooted in the value of the judicial system. When you embark on the journey of judiciary you leave behind all baggage. It is a demanding exercise,” the leading advocate of the Supreme Court said.
The Constitution should have directly or indirectly ensure freedom of the media, he said adding that it was unfortunate that education was made a right after such a long time. Without education the Fundamental Right of Speech and Expression does not make sense.
Earlier, recalling the immense contribution of D.V. Subba Rao to the city, president of Visakhapatnam Public Library S. Vijay Kumar said that the city was grateful to the former Mayor for establishing many institutions in the city.
A. Prasanna Kumar, Director of Centre for Policy Studies and former Rector of Andhra University, recalled different facets of D.V. Subba Rao.
R. Venkata Rao, Vice-Chancellor of National Law School of India University, recalled his association with D.V. Subba Rao.
‘Name AU convention centre after DV’
Naming Andhra University convention centre, coming up on Beach Road, after D.V. Subba Rao would honour the memory of one of the university’s most illustrious alumni, Vice-Chancellor of National Law School of India University R Venkata Rao said.
Prof. Venkat Rao recalled the contribution of former Mayor of the City to the beautification of Beach Road and establishment of other institutions in the city. Subba Rao was largely responsible for creating and nurturing the institutions in the city and naming the convention centre after him would be an appropriate move, he said urging the university authorities and the government to take steps to do the needful for it.
