A Distinguished Lecture on “Constitutional Morality: New Wine in Old Bottles?” was held at Institute of Law, Nirma University on December 20, 2019. The session was addressed by Dr Upendra Baxi, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Warwick and Delhi.
At the outset, Prof Baxi discussed about the distinction between Constitutional morality, Post constitutional morality and Public morality. He focused on meaning of Constitutional Morality, Public morality against Constitutional Morality and various Objections to Constitutional Morality.
He quoted Dr B R Ambedkar and stressed on the need to make people believe in the values enshrined in the Preamble of the Constitution. He urged for using Constitutional morality as a yardstick for judging social and political developments.
He discussed that for a Democracy to thrive, constitutional morality is a must. He highlighted that the core values of Constitution are Justice, Governance, Development and Rights. He stressed on importance of Article 51A of the Constitution dealing with Fundamental Duties. Prof Baxi gave his own interpretation saying Constitutional Morality is an interpretive concept “It is a way to interpret the Constitution” Prof Baxi referred to various landmark cases, namely Sabrimala case, Naz Foundation etc. Prof Baxi stated that Basic Structure is being feminised in the Vishaka and Triple Talaq Judgement. He said that it’s very important to maintain the balance between Judicial Creativity and Judicial Indiscipline, Earlier, Prof(Dr) Purvi Pokhariyal, Director and Dean, Institute of Law, welcome the audience for this distinguished lecture and highlighted the credentials of Prof Upendra Baxi.
Dr Bishwa K Dash, Assistant Professor, Institute of Law, delivered the vote of thanks.