Let constitutional morality guide judicial independence

On the occasion of the 77th Constitution Day, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant articulated an idea of constitutional morality that is deeply embedded in the Constitution.

- C Raj Kumar

The view that cultural and civic sentiments support freedom, prompt self-restraint, and secure adherence to constitutional norms and engender respect for institutions beyond legal rules and regulations underpin the original idea of constitutional morality.

British historian George Grote first spoke of “constitutional morality’, in his work, A History of Greece, describing it as a sentiment underlying written rules, producing the civic consciousness essential for democratic governance.

In 1948, BR Ambedkar, the chief architect of India’s Constitution, held that constitutional morality is inherent in the form of the Constitution. Then again, the constitutional form can be perverted through maladministration and make it antithetical to the constitutional spirit.

Therefore, strict adherence to constitutional morality alone will safeguard democracy from manipulations. In the Constituent Assembly, Ambedkar expressed that even within aconstitutional democracy based on the principles of rule of law, power-holders tend to become unaccountable and undermine the values of the Constitution.