Art. 14

Art. 14 : The State not deny to any person equality before law or the equal

               protection of the laws within the territory of India

Ø  The concept of equality before law and equal protection of law encompasses social and economic justice in a political democracy.

Ø  Equality before law is a negative concept implying -

a)      absence of any special privilege by reason of birth, creed or the like, in favour of any individual

b)      equal subjection of all classes to the ordinary law

Ø  Equal protection of law is a positive concept implying -

a)      right to equality of treatment in equal circumstances

     I.        Equality before law

1)      Equality before law is correlative to the concept of 'Rule of law'

2)      It is a declaration of equality of all persons within the territory of India, implying thereby the absence of any privilege in favour of any individual

3)      It means that no man is above the law of the land and that every person, whatever be his rank or status, is subject to the ordinary law and amenable to the jurisdiction of the ordinary tribunals

NOTE :-

1)      The concept of equality before law does not involve the idea of absolute equality

2)      Art. 14 guarantees the similarity of treatment and not identical treatment

3)      Art. 14 does not require that the legislative classification should be scientifically or logically perfect

4)      the concept of equality permits rational or discriminating discrimination {rational discrimination}

5)      Conferment of special benefits or protection or right to a particular group of citizens for rational reasons is envisaged under Art. 14 and is implicit in the concept of equality

Exceptions : The exceptions allowed by the Indian Constitution are -

1)      Art. 361(1) : The President or the Governor of a State shall not be answerable to any court for the exercise and performance of the powers and duties of his office.

2)      Art. 361(2) : No criminal proceedings whatsoever shall be instituted or continued against the President or the Governor of a State in any court during his term of office.

3)      Art. 361(4) : No civil proceeding in which relief is claimed against the President or the Governor of a State shall be instituted during his term of office

NOTE : The above immunities, however, shall not bar -

       i.        impeachment proceedings against the President

     ii.        suits or other appropriate proceedings against the govt of India or the govt of a State

 

4)       Besides the above Constitutional exceptions, there will remain the exceptions acknowledged by the community of nations

 eg - in favour of foreign sovereigns and ambassadors

Rule of law

1)      Absence of arbitrary power i.e. no man can be punished except for a breach of law

2)      Equality before law i.e. no one is above the law and equal subjection of all citizens to the ordinary law of the land

3)      the Constitution is the supreme law of the land and all laws passed by the Parliament must conform with the provisions of the Constitution

II.     Equal protection of law

1)      Among equals the law should be equal and equally administered; Likes should be treated alike

2)      Equal protection requires affirmative action by the State towards unequal by providing facilities and opportunities

3)      In other words, it means the right to equal treatment in similar circumstances both in the privileges conferred and in the liabilities imposed by the laws

4)      Implicit in the concept of equality is the concept that persons who are unequally circumstanced cannot be treated on par. However, unequals cannot be clubbed.

v  It does not mean that every person shall be taxed equally, but that persons under the same character should be taxed by the same standard.

5)      Art. 14 prohibits "class legislation" and not "classification for the purpose of legislation"

 i.e. The legislature can classify persons for legislative purpose so as to bring them under a well defined class.

6)      The classification should not be arbitrary, it should be reasonable and be based on qualities and characteristics that have relation to the object of legislation.

 

NOTE :-

a)    The legislature is competent to exercise its discretion and make classification

b)   It is for the legislature to identify the class of the people to be given protection and on what basis such protection is to be given

c)    The court cannot interfere

7)      The guarantee of equal protection applies against substantive as well as procedural laws.

In short, Art. 14 hits arbitrariness of State action in any form. Any act which is discriminatory is liable to be labelled as arbitrary. Reasonableness and fairness is the heart and soul of Art. 14.