Fundamental Duties do not destroy Fundamental Rights but balance them”. Examine the above statement by citing judicial pronouncements. [UPJS 2006]

Question: “Fundamental Duties do not destroy Fundamental Rights but balance them”. Examine the above statement by citing judicial pronouncements. [UPJS 2006]

Find the answer to the mains question only on Legal Bites. [“Fundamental Duties do not destroy Fundamental Rights but balance them”. Examine the above statement by citing judicial pronouncements.]

Answer

Rights without duties have no meaning. Therefore, the Constitution lays down some Fundamental Duties in Part IV-A of the Constitution under Article 51- A. The balancing of Fundamental rights is a constitutional necessity as every right gives rise to a corresponding duty. Besides, in democratic setup participation of the citizens in the process of governance and nation-building is a fundamental obligation. That is why Fundamental Duties has been enumerated by the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution in 1976.

The fundamental duties are the mechanism that aims at striking a balance between individual freedom and social interests. These duties do not cast any public duties but are applicable only to individual citizens. However, in the Ashoka Kumar Thakur v. UOI case, the Supreme Court held that the Fundamental Duties are as important as Fundamental Rights and that though Article 51A does not expressly cast any fundamental duty on the State, the duty of every citizen of India is the collective duty of the state- its de facto enforceability in the sense that Article 51A is a yardstick against which the action of the State may be assessed.

Further, in the case of Union of India v. Naveen Jindal, the Supreme Court observed that fundamental duties are implicit in the concept of fundamental duties, the former providing certain restrictions on the exercise of the latter.

In the Unnikrishnan v. State of AP (1993) case, the court stated that, in order to treat a right as a fundamental right, it is not necessary that it should be expressly stated as one in Part III of the Constitution. The provisions of Part III and Part IV are supplementary and complementary to each other. That is why very often the court reads the two together. There is no conflict between the two. It is wrong to assume that the fulfillment of obligations relating to social and economic human rights would impair fundamental rights.

Thus, one does not have existed as well as the meaning without the other, so, there is a strong necessity to maintain a strong balance between fundamental rights and fundamental duties. This was we can say that fundamental duties do not destroy fundamental rights but balance them in an effective manner.

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Important Mains Questions Series for Judiciary, APO & University Exams

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