‘Each generation has a duty to audit the Constitution’

Eight eminent personalities, including former Supreme Court judge Jasti Chelameswar and former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi, on Monday, called for "audit" of the Constitution ahead of the 70th anniversary of the Republic. They, however, did not clarify if they want changes in the Constitution.

They just said each generation has a "solemn duty to constantly introspect and audit the working of the Constitution" without elaborating.

In an open letter addressed to the people, they asked whether the Constitution enables the elected government to claim legitimacy for abuse of power and allows the citizens to convert liberty into licence disregarding the rights of other.

"Is it simply another text penned by ink, or a sacred text written in the blood of innumerable martyrs who transcended the barriers of caste, religion, region, ethnicity and language," they asked.

The open letter comes exactly on this date in 2018 when four senior Supreme Court judges, led by Justice Chelameswar, mounted a virtual revolt against the then Chief Justice Dipak Misra on the listing of the cases in the Apex Court. The open letter does not refer to that revolt in the judiciary except for the fact that Justice Chelmeswar figures in both.

The appeal comes at a time when the nation is witnessing protests, some of them violent, against the CAA passed last month. Critics say it discriminates on the basis of religion and hence violates the Constitution.