Respect for rule of Law key to safeguarding the Constitution: Justice Dixit
Respect for the rule of law is of paramount importance for the survival of the constitution, Mr. Justice Krishna Shripad Dixit, Judge of the Orissa High Court, said on Saturday.
“If we do not have respect for the rule of law, the constitution will fall down,” Mr. Justice Dixit said while delivering the Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Lecture at SOA Deemed to be University here.
Stating that the Indian Constitution had survived even after more than 100 amendments had been incorporated to it, Mr. Justice Dixit said all constitutional institutions including the judiciary, the Election Commission of India, the parliament, state legislatures and the Registrar General of India needed to be protected.
He was delivering the keynote address in the SOA Lecture Series titled ‘Making of Our Constitution.’
Referring to the ‘Allahabad Resolution’ of 1920 which proposed creation of a constitutional framework for India, he said a Constituent Assembly had been set up in 1946 before the country gained independence.
The constitution rested on a nation’s geographical area with defined borders, population, a legitimate government and ability to maintain international relations with other countries, he said.
When the bill to grant India independence was tabled in the British parliament, it was opposed by the leader of opposition Winston Churchill who said if independence was granted to India, “power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues, freebooters; all Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw.”
“But India had proved Churchill wrong by launching 106 satellites in one go,” Mr. Justice Dixit said.
He said India was a great country because many religious faiths had come to the country. Islam had come to India before it had reached Saudi Arabia while Christianity arrived in the country before it went to Europe, he said.
India was a land of knowledge which had always moved towards the light, Mr. Justice Dixit said.
SOA Vice-Chancellor Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda presented a detailed account of the university’s activities and accomplishments while Prof. S.A.K. Azad, Dean of SOA National Institute of Law (SNIL), the university’s faculty of legal studies, welcomed the guest. Prof. Jyoti Ranjan Das, Dean (Students’ Welfare), proposed the vote of thanks.
