INTRODUCTION

Laws play an integral part for a society to sustain. A society without law will be a difficult
place to survive. Laws stop a society to disrupt and impede state of anarchy. They help in
checking proper functioning of the society. We all know that in a democracy laws are made
by representatives chosen by the people of the country. But what will happen if those
representatives make laws not benefitting to the society but to them. This will create a big
question mark on democracy which guarantees rights of its citizens. In order to prevent this
stage, in Indian context our lawmakers which drafted the constitution of India came up with
Directive Principles of State Policy.

India borrowed the DPSP from Irish Constitution of 1937 which itself had borrowed it from
Spanish Constitution. Further, the Government of India Act had some “instruments of
Instructions” which became the immediate source of DPSP and are mentioned in Article 36-
51. They contain guidelines or principles which should be kept in mind while framing Law1.

DPSP contains guidelines which are not enforceable in court of law. But a lot of
debates are going upon their enforceability. The researcher wishes to study and answer
the question, “Should the Directive Principles of State Policy be enforceable in court of
law?

HISTORICAL ANALYSIS

While framing the constitution of India , the framers faced a problem matching ideals
with practical. In 1945, Sapru committee recommended to divide Fundamental rights in
two parts- justiciable and non justiciable. The non-justiciable is known as Directive
Principles of State Policy. It is known that DPSP are borrowed from Irish constitution.
But in comparison to it DPSP of constitution are more abundant and numerous. The
Directive Principles of the Constitution of India are regarded as a unique blend of
Socialism, Gandhism and liberalism, which will be discussed in later part.
CLASSIFICATION

DPSP’s can be classified into three categories on the basis of their content-

SOCIALISTIC PRINCIPLES

These principles portray the ideology of socialism, which aim to provide economic and social
justice to the state. These include-

 Article 38: To secure a social order for the promotion of welfare of the people.

 Article 39: To strive to minimise inequalities of income.

 Article 39 (b): Ownership and control of material resources of the community shall be
so distributed so as to sub serve the common good.

 Article 39 (d): Equal pay for equal work.

 Article 39 (e): Health and strength of workers, and the tender age of children must not
be abused.

 Article 39A: Equal justice and free legal aid.

 Article 42: Provision of just and humane conditions for work and maternity relief.

 Article 43 A: Participation of workers in the management of the industries.

GANDHIAN PRINCIPLES

These are based upon ideology of Gandhi and to fulfil his dreams and follow his ideology,
they were included in DPSP’s –

 Article 40: Organization of Village Panchayats.

 Article 46: Promotion of educational and economic interests of the SCs, the STs and
the other weaker sections of the society.

 Article 48: Organization of agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and

scientific lines to prohibit the slaughter of cows, calves and other milch and draught
animals.

 Article 43: To promote cottage industry.

 Article 47: To bring about the prohibition of intoxicating drinks and drugs that are
injurious to health.
LIBERALISM

These include-

 Article 44: Uniform Civil Code for the citizens.

 Article 45: Provide free and compulsory education for children below 14 years.

 Article 50: Separation of Judiciary from Executive.

 Article 51: To promote international peace and amity.

Relation Between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles

The basic objective of the fundamental rights is to protect an individual from encroachment
of his basic rights. The basic objective of the directive principles is to create a “welfare” state.
The fundamental rights limit the state action towards an individual while the directive
principles are positive instruction to the state to establish a just socioeconomic and political
order. The Fundamental rights are justifiable i.e. a person can approach the court on their
infringement, the directive principles are non-justifiable and one cannot approach to the court
if they are not enforced by the state. The Fundamental rights are directly guaranteed by the
Constitution, but the directive principles are only some guidelines and they require legislation
for their implementation. For example Panchayati Rat Act was passed to implement the
directive of article 40.