Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Contributors
- 1 Introduction: The Elements of Legalization and the Triangular Shape of Social and Economic Rights
- 2 Litigating for Social Justice in Post-Apartheid South Africa: A Focus on Health and Education
- 3 Accountability for Social and Economic Rights in Brazil
- 4 Courts and Socioeconomic Rights in India
- 5 The Impact of Economic and Social Rights in Nigeria: An Assessment of the Legal Framework for Implementing Education and Health as Human Rights
- 6 The Implementation of the Rights to Health Care and Education in Indonesia
- 7 Transforming Legal Theory in the Light of Practice: The Judicial Application of Social and Economic Rights to Private Orderings
- 8 A New Policy Landscape: Legalizing Social and Economic Rights in the Developing World
- Index
- References
4 - Courts and Socioeconomic Rights in India
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 July 2009
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Contributors
- 1 Introduction: The Elements of Legalization and the Triangular Shape of Social and Economic Rights
- 2 Litigating for Social Justice in Post-Apartheid South Africa: A Focus on Health and Education
- 3 Accountability for Social and Economic Rights in Brazil
- 4 Courts and Socioeconomic Rights in India
- 5 The Impact of Economic and Social Rights in Nigeria: An Assessment of the Legal Framework for Implementing Education and Health as Human Rights
- 6 The Implementation of the Rights to Health Care and Education in Indonesia
- 7 Transforming Legal Theory in the Light of Practice: The Judicial Application of Social and Economic Rights to Private Orderings
- 8 A New Policy Landscape: Legalizing Social and Economic Rights in the Developing World
- Index
- References
Summary
“Compelling action by authorities of the states through the power of mandamus is an inherent power vested in the judiciary,” said India's Prime Minister, but warned that “substituting mandamus with a takeover of the functions of another organ may, at times, become a case of over-reach…these are all delicate issues which need to be addressed cautiously.” Manmohan Singh was speaking at a conference of regional chief ministers and high court chief justices in April 2007. A similar point was made by a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in March 2007 who cautioned the courts on legitimate and illegitimate intervention; and also by the Speaker of the legislature who said, “I will be failing in my duty if I do not point out that there has been an encroachment in the legislative arena.” These cautionary words from the heads of the legislature, executive, and the judiciary imply that the Indian courts have not just been activist, but over-activist. Is that true?
In the last two decades, the higher judiciary in India transformed non-justiciable economic and social rights such as basic education, health, food, shelter, speedy trial, privacy, anti–child labor, and equal wages for equal work into legally enforceable rights. In a famous judgment on the right to education, the judges even said that a right could be treated as fundamental even if it was not present in the fundamental rights section of the constitution.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Courting Social JusticeJudicial Enforcement of Social and Economic Rights in the Developing World, pp. 146 - 182Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008
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