User:Devanshu7781/sandbox

Article 15 of the Constitution of India

Meaning

Constitution of India, 1948-1949 Beohar Rammanohar Sinha illuminated, beautified and decorated the original manuscript calligraphed by Prem Behari Narain Raizada. Beohar Rammanohar Sinha's legible short-signature in Devanagari-script as Ram on the Preamble-page (lower-right corner within the outermost border-design), and as Rammanohar on other pages of the Constitution bear unambiguous testimony to this fact. He was the favorite disciple of Nandalal Bose. After finishing the Constitution, some leftover art-material was carefully preserved by the artist which he bequeathed to his son Beohar Dr Anupam Sinha.

Article 15 of the Constitution of India provides that no citizen in the country of India shall be subjected to dicrimination on any grounds such as religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth, or any rights, privileges and immunities pertaining to him/her.

The Article 15 also lays down some clauses, they are as follows:

1. The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.
2. No citizen shall, on ground only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them, be subject to any disability, liability, restriction or condition with regard to:
   1. access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and places of public entertainment; or
   2. the use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads and places of public resort maintained whole or partly out of State funds or dedicated to the use of general public.
3. Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any special provision for women and children.
4. Nothing in this article or in clause (2) or article 29 shall prevent the State from making any special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.
5. Nothing in this article or in sub-clause (g) of clause (1) of article 19 shall prevent the State from making any special provision, by law, for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes in so far as such special provisions relate to their admission to educational institutions including private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the State, other than the minority educational institutions referred to in clause (1) of article 30.

Amendments of Article 15

Amendments This anti-discrimination law made its first exception by including a Clause (4) during the 1st amendment in 1951. With this amendment, the article made way for reservation for SCs and STs and other backward classes to benefit them academically, socially and economically. It’s important to note that Clause (5) of Article 15 was originally not a part of the Constitution. It was introduced during the Ninety-Third Amendment Act in 2005. There was widespread protest over the central government’s decision to include this clause. Even stronger opposition came from the non-OBC students, which led to the emergence of several writ petitions challenging the Amendment. • Reason for 15(4) Clauses (1) and (2) of Article 15 of the Constitution prescribes discrimination against citizens on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. However, Clause (3) provided that State may create any special provisions women and children. In this, Clause (2) of the Constitution of India (First Amendment) Bill, 1951 was introduced to amplify the scope of Article 15 (3) so that any special provision that the State may make for the advancement of the educational, economic or any backward classes of citizens may not be challenged on the ground of being discriminatory. • Reason for 15(5) Greater access to higher education including professional education to a larger number of students belonging to the socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is a matter of major concern. Till 2005, the number of seats available in aided or State maintained institutions, particularly in respect of professional education, was limited in comparison to those in private unaided institutions. Furthermore, it is provided in Article 46, as a Directive Principle of State Policy, that State shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people and protect them from social injustice. Access to education is important in order to ensure advancement of persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, and the socially and economically backward classes. To promote the educational advancement of the socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in matters of admission of students belonging to these categories in unaided educational institutions, other than the minority educational institutions referred to in Clause (1) of Article 30, Article 15 (5) was proposed to amplify Article 15.

Benefits of Article 15

The main motive of this article is to remove the inequalities on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Therefore, its main benefit is that it sees all the citizens equal by the law and doesn’t consider any particular group as superior.

Article 15 empowers the government in its clause (3), giving them rights to make special laws or provisions for women and children if required. In its clauses (4) and (5), the government is given powers to make provisions “for the advancement of any educationally and socially backward citizens” this further helps to uplift the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes or other less privileged sections of the society.

Clause (2) states that all the people can freely access to any public place like parks, restaurants wells, tanks bathing Ghats. The main benefit of this clause is that it breaks the old norms and myths that the upper caste and lower castes cannot use the same wells or be at the same place.

Article 15 is a step towards reducing or eliminating the inequalities that are present in the society. Also, it promotes reservations for the Other Below Castes (OBCs) with the motive of educating them, raising their standard of living and providing them with economic support.

Difference Between Article 14 & Article 15

1} Article 14 states that no person should be treated unequally within the territory of Indian Prohibition before the law on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth whereas Article 15 of the constitution expresses that no individual should be segregated on the basis of religion, race, station, sex or place of birth. Each individual might have right to access to public spots like public parks, historical centers, wells, showering ghats and sanctuaries and so forth. Be that as it may, the State may make any unique arrangement for ladies and kids. Special arrangements might be made for the progressions of any socially or instructively backward class.

2} Article 15 is considered as a particular aspect or feature of Article 14. This indicates that Article 14 is a broader concept whereas Article 15 is a specific concept.

3} Article 14 grants right to equality to all persons citizen or non-citizen against the arbitrary action on the part of the state. Article 15 on the other hand prohibit the discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth among citizens only. This states that no other citizen can claim this right under Article 15(1).

4} It is notable that any classification on these grounds only will not be reasonable classification under Article 14, therefore if a legislation is volatile of Article 15, then it cannot be saved on the ground of reasonable classification which is the underlying principle of Article 14.

Controversies

Sabarimala Temple Case

Sabarimala is a Hindu Pilgrimage centre located at the Periyar Tiger Reserve in Pathanamthitta District of Kerala. In 1991, the Kerala High Court banned the entry of women between the age of 10-50. Justice K Paripoornan and Justice K Balanarayana Marar stated that such ban was in accordance with usage from time immemorial. The Supreme Court accepted a petition to review the High Court Judgement on the grounds of possible violation of Article 15. In October 2017, the Supreme Court referred the case to the constitution bench.

Enforceability

In December 2009, the Supreme Court in its judgement in Dr. Gulshan Prakash vs State of Haryana stated that Article 15(4) and Article 16(4) are merely enabling provisions, and therefore, the State can use its discretion not to enforce them.