Former Supreme Court judge Justice J. Chelameswar addressed the students at Government Law College during an event commemorating 75 years of Indian Constitution in Thiruvananthapuram on 26th November 2024. Delivering the keynote address at the Constitution Day celebrations, organised by the Institute of Parliamentary Affairs, Government of Kerala, at Government Law College, he expressed concerns over the efficiency of the governing system in the country. He said even as the country celebrates the platinum jubilee of the Constitution’s adoption, it has to be noted that the country’s governance system is still below the mark of an efficient system. It cannot be termed inefficient. However, it is still less efficient than required, he said while calling for an introspection to find the factors that went wrong. He also cited an example of the encounter killing in Hyderabad in 2019 in which the civil society walked an extra mile to praise the encounter killing by the administration. But it exposed the chinks in the governing system, he said. The dangerous trend of civil society approving such acts cannot be agreed upon, he said, adding that the incident is also an indicator for the failure of the system that fails to deliver justice efficiently and expeditiously.
There is no such thing as a just society – Justice Chelameswar, said that when the police shot and killed the suspects in the case of rape and murder of a young woman, people clapped their hands, which shows the weakness of our justice system. Even after 75 years since the Constitution came into force, there has not been a society where justice is guaranteed. He said that he has hope in younger generation. J. Chelameswar also said that younger generation should be able to bring innovate change in the political administration. Administration of justice is not necessarily done properly when the governing power is restricted to individuals and a group. Whether in the Parliament or in the legislative assemblies, each issue is discussed, but the decision is taken by the majority. A question of importance is whether everything the majority says should be considered right? Therefore certain principles are needed for the administrative system. Justice Chelameshwar also said that those principles can be found in the constitution.
The Constitution Day celebrations was organised by the Institute of Parliamentary Affairs, Government of Kerala, at Government Law College. Minister for Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes O.R. Kelu inaugurated the event. Former Supreme Court judge Justice J. Chelameswar delivered the keynote addressBiveesh U.C., director-general, Institute of Parliamentary Affairs, V.K. Prasanth MLA, former MP A. Sampath, journalist S.R. Sakthidharan, M.S. Irshad, additional secretary, Parliamentary Affairs department, Bindhumol V.C., principal, Government Law College and S. Meenakumari, associate professor, spoke on the occasion.
