Bhubaneswar: The Constitution of India entreats the people to strive for excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activities so that the nation can rise to higher levels of endeavour and achievement, Justice Sashikanta Mishra said on Saturday.
“To abide by the constitution is a fundamental duty and justice is the engine that runs the nation,” the Orissa High Court judge said in his address to faculty members and students of the SOA Deemed to be University as part of the SOA Lecture Series.
“The constitution starts with justice, goes through justice and ends with justice,” he said. The country should be proud of its civilisation which influenced the drafting of the constitution by great men who were members of the Constituent Assembly, he added.
Justice Mishra said there existed a wealth of wisdom, knowledge and civilisational ethos before the experts sat down to draft the constitution. “It will be wrong to say that the British taught us law,” the judge opined.
He shared his experience with an auto driver to drive home the impact of the Constitution on Indian people. On a winter night many years ago in New Delhi, the auto driver refused to jump traffic lights in the middle of the night despite there being very few vehicles on the road.
“Though I prodded him to go ahead as I was eager to catch a train, he did not budge,” he said. The driver had responded, “Khud ko achha nahi lagega (It will not feel good if I jump the traffic lights)”.
Justice Mishra pointed out that he had studied the Constitution as a lawyer, while the auto driver had never gone through the charter but was nonetheless abiding by its provisions. It reflected the impact of Indian Constitution on its citizens, he said.
Justice Mishra also cited several everyday examples to highlight that one may or may not be aware of the constitutional provisions vetbatim, but if the underlying principles such as justice, equality etc. are reflected in his daily conduct, he would be truly living the Constitution.
“I have seen in England as also in Dubai and Abu Dhabi that though there are no cops at traffic interjections, everybody follows the rules. When you follow the law, you are upholding the Constitution,” the judge said.
Describing Article 21 as the most important provision of the Constitution as it guaranteed personal liberty, Justice Mishra said this liberty could only be taken away by procedures established by law. Articles 14 and 21 also applied to undertrial prisoners in jail as also convicts, he added.
