Highlighting the centrality of the judiciary in securing the constitutional rights of citizens, Vice President Mohammed Hamid Ansari on Saturday said that people are increasingly turning to the judiciary for solving social problems due to its accessibility, affordability and confidence that justice will be dispensed speedily.
Addressing the 16th convocation of the University of Jammu here, he said that any discussion of the constitutional ideal of India being a 'secular' republic having a 'composite culture' has to be premised on the existential reality of the society which is characterized by heterogeneity.
The Vice President questioned how the Indian State, in principle and practice, has given shape to the essential ingredients of the secular principle and composite culture.
"Apart from the principles enshrined in the constitutional text, the policy pronouncements of public figures, often nuanced to suit the occasion and judicial pronouncements shed useful light on the matter," he added.
Quoting eminent jurists, the Vice President said that unless the court strives in every possible way to assure that the Constitution, the law, applies fairly to all citizens, the court cannot be said to have fulfilled its custodial responsibility.
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The Vice President added that Indian secularism has been described as ameliorative whose spiritual core is incrementalism and that a citizen could well hope that this incremental approach is used to enhance social cohesion and social peace.
"Our democratic polity and its secular State structure were put in place in full awareness of this plurality. There was no suggestion to erase identities and homogenise them. Political scientists and sociologists have written a good deal on the Indian perception of secularism. The challenge, then, is to reduce if not eliminate these anomalies," he said.
The Vice President asserted that it was bold to expect that the Supreme Court may consider to clarify the contours within which the principles of secularism and composite culture should operate with a view to strengthen their functional modality and remove ambiguities that have crept in.
"Indian secularism has been described as ameliorative whose spiritual core is incrementalism. A citizen could well hope that this incremental approach is used to enhance social cohesion and social peace," he added.
The convocation was attended by Jammu and Kashmir Governor of N.N. Vohra, Chief Justice of India Justice T.S. Thakur and Vice Chancellor of Jammu University Prof. R.D. Sharma among others.
