CAN A PERSON DIRECTLY FILE A PETITION IN THE SUPREME COURT OR NOT?

 

YES is the answer, if it is for the purpose of enforcement of the Fundamental Rights under part III of the Constitution of India. In such a case, the Court cannot even decline to entertain the Petition. It has to act upon it. This is because the Article 32 of the Constitution of India by which this Right to file the Petition directly in the Supreme Court itself is a Fundamental Right under part III of the Constitution. This Right cannot even suspended by ordinary laws. In other words, it is mandatory for the Supreme Court to act upon it.

It is also true that the High Courts below the Supreme Court are also equipped with similar power under Article 226 of the Constitution. That power is also wider than the power of the Supreme Court in the sense that it can be used not only for the enforcement of the Fundamental Rights, but for other purpose too. Still the fact remains that the Supreme Court cannot abdicate its duty under Article 32 on the ground that the person first not approached the lower court. Otherwise the very purpose of Article 32 would be powerless and purposeless.

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Further, the Writ jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 226 is discretionary in nature, whereas the right to remedy under Article 32 is compulsory in nature. Therefore, if the Supreme Court declines to entertain the Petition for enforcement of the Fundamental Rights under Art.32 only on the ground that the person concerned did not approach the lower court, that itself become a violation of the Fundamental Right of the person concerned. That is the reason why the founding Fathers of the Constitution made the remedy to approach the Supreme Court of India under Article 32 itself is made a Fundamental Right.

In spite of all these safeguards, whether the Fundamental Rights are available to the poor illiterate majority population of India?

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