Achieving Social Justice

De Somnath has published Right to Social Justice. Here is the abstract.

By social justice I mean the creation of a society which treats human beings as embodiments of the sacred, supports them to realize their fullest human potential. The concept of social justice is taken in its most comprehensive sense- the legislative, the administrative and the judicial. It is true that the preamble to our constitution uses the term "social justice" and Article 38. And in wider sense various fundamental rights somehow protects the concept of social justice in India. But beyond this neither the constitution nor any subsequent legislation provides the key to precise connotation of expression "Social Justice". So as right to social justice only some fundamental rights with the judicial pronunciation comes into picture. The Preamble declares and secure to all citizens justice, social, economic and political. The concept of social justice is a revolutionary concept which provides meaning and significance to life and makes the rule of law dynamic. In Keshawanand Bharti Case Supreme Court held that preamble is the part of the Constitution. The Constitution inscribes Justice as the first promise of the Republic, which means that State Power will execute the pledge of Justice in favour of millions who are the Republic. I mean to say Social Justice is People’s Justice where the tyranny of power is transformed into democracy of social good. The idea of welfare state is that the claims of social justice must be treated as cardinal and paramount. Social justice is not a blind concept or a preposterous dogma. It seeks to do justice to all the citizen of the state. In the Directive Principles, however, one finds an even clearer statement of the social revolution. They aim at making the Indian masses free in the positive sense, free from the abject physical conditions that had prevented them from fulfilling their best selves…. The essence of the Directive Principles lies in Article 38. In reality, the cry for "social justice" is a call for the State to do something to fix economic and relational inequities without any regard to a universal principle of justice. By describing justice in social rather than legal terms, our attention is immediately drawn to national problems that can only be fixed by a civil government with enough power to enforce its policies. So then, advocates of "social justice" believe that the State plays the major role in rectifying so-called social problems because they are national in scope. Justice and social order had a genetic role in moulding the Indian jurisprudence and notion of justice.If the rule of law and rule of life run close together, a jurisprudence where man matter will bourgeon there. The springs of social justice will arise then - only then.

Download the paper from SSRN at the link.