Former CJI U U Lalit said the Right to Education is a powerful example of affirmative action that transformed millions of lives and boosted India’s literacy. He highlighted how judicial interpretation and legislative action together made education a fundamental right.
Former Chief Justice of India U U Lalit said on Saturday that the Right to Education has become one of the strongest examples of affirmative action in India and has changed the lives of crores of citizens.
He was speaking at an event celebrating the release of the 100th episode of Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate Kapil Sibal’s online programme ‘Dil Se With Kapil Sibal’. Lalit praised the Right to Education for bringing more inclusion into the education system.
Recalling the early years after Independence, Lalit pointed out how low literacy levels used to be in India. He said,
“When we gained Independence, less than 18 per cent of the people of the country were literate. So the rate of literacy, which was just about 18 per cent, today stands … at least 80 per cent; and this began with the Constitution.”
He explained that the framers of the Constitution had two main ideas: one was that the State had a responsibility to expand educational opportunities as much as possible, and the second was that the State must try to give free and compulsory education to all children below 14 years.
Lalit referred to the 1992 Supreme Court judgment in Mohini Jain vs State of Karnataka, which dealt with high capitation fees charged by a private medical college.
According to him, in this case, the court held that the right to education is an essential part of fundamental rights. Following this decision, the government introduced a bill in 1997 to make education a fundamental right for all children until they turned 14.
Calling this a rare example of cooperation between the judiciary and the legislature, Lalit said,
“This, to my mind, is the solitary example where the judicature and the legislature played their role together. Otherwise, right from the First Amendment of the Constitution, there has always been a tussle between them.”
He said that the new government which came to power in 1999 later added Article 21A to the Constitution in 2002. This Article officially made the Right to Education a fundamental right for children between the ages of six and fourteen.
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Lalit emphasised that the Article clearly stated that
“every child in the age group of 6-14 would have the right to have complete and compulsory education in the manner determined by Parliament,”
and added that
“now that determination by Parliament comes only in 2009 by way of what is called the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act.”
The former CJI said the 2009 Act was extremely important because it had wide-reaching effects. It brought private schools within its scope and promoted an inclusive meaning of education.
Lalit said that after the Supreme Court’s judgments of 1992 and 1993, millions of people benefited from this form of affirmative action. He described the judgment as one of the most influential decisions in the history of the Supreme Court.
Talking about judicial activism, Lalit said,
“We keep hearing criticism that judges indulge in activism. Then this activism is at the highest level, where by interpretative process, you are now saying that hundreds of crores of the population are entitled to affirmative action, and yet there is not a single demur from any establishment.”
During the event, Kapil Sibal also spoke and highlighted the importance of information in society.
He said,
“A society without information will be parched. Indeed, there will be no fertile ground for the grass to grow. And what ultimately, if you look at the march of civilisation, you realise it is all based on information.”
He added,
“In the absence of information, there is no dialogue. In the absence of information, there is no progress. So information is at the heart of the progress of civilisation. Unfortunately, all those who block information are doing great injustice.”
Sibal further said that without access to necessary data, it becomes difficult to find solutions. He remarked,
“So it is time for us to think about these issues. Because in the ultimate analysis, it is not about us, it is about our future; not even our future but the future of humanity.”
At the event, Lalit officially released the 100th episode of the online series, after which a panel discussion took place featuring Sibal, former Supreme Court judge Justice Abhay S Oka, and filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt.
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