m.blessan@gmail.

com

Article -14

Equality Before Law

 m.blessan@gmail.com

Article -14
The State Shall Not Deny to any
• ”

person equality before the law or

the Equal Protection of the laws
within the territory of India”
 m.blessan@gmail.com

The word ”any

person”denotes

Citizens and Natural as well

non Citizens as legal persons

Availability of Right to Equality


Equality Before Law
Propounded by A.V Dicey in his
Principles of Rule of Law
No Man is Above Law and that
every person, high or low ,is
subject to ordinary law.
Article 14
m.blessan@gmail.com
Equal Protection of the laws
Part of US Constitution 14th
Amendment and Article 7 of
UDHR
Equal law should be applied to
all persons who are equals.
 m.blessan@gmail.com

The classification must not be “arbitrary,

artificial or evasive” and must fulfill the
following two conditions

It must be founded on intelligible

Reasonable differentia which distinguishes persons or
Classification things that are grouped together from
others left out of the group
The differentia must have a rational
relation to the object sought to be
achieved by the act
 m.blessan@gmail.com

Valid Reasonable Classification

Law-Contract Act Categories of

• Sec 11- Persons who classification
haven’t attained • Adult
majority can’t enter in to
• Minor
a contract
 m.blessan@gmail.com

AGE
CAPACITY TO ENTER
Adult CONTRACT
Children

Valid reasonable Classification

 m.blessan@gmail.com

Colour of
the Hair Capacity to
enter contract

Invalid Classification
 m.blessan@gmail.com

Intelligible
Object
State of West Differentia

Bengal v
Anwar Ali
Sarkar To provide for
speedier trial for None
certain offence
 m.blessan@gmail.com

The Differentia which

is the basis of Object itself cannot be
classification and the basis of
object of the act are classification.
two different things.

State of West Bengal v Anwar Ali Sarkar-

Nexus Test
 m.blessan@gmail.com

Rajbala v State of Haryana

• Haryana panchayat Raj Amendment
act,2005,Prescribed minimum
educational qualifications and
other conditions to contest in local
Valid Classification body elections.

• Classification based on educational

qualification had intelligible
differentia and nexus to the object
sought to be achieved by the state.
 m.blessan@gmail.com

Rajbala v State of Haryana

INTELLIGIBLE Educational Qualification

DIFFERENTIA

OBJECT Spreading Education

 m.blessan@gmail.com

Arbitrariness and Article 14

Arbitrariness is the very antithesis of Equality-

E.P.Royappa v State of Tamilnadu
Principle of Reasonableness is an essential
element of Article 14- Maneka Gandhi Case
Principles of Natural Justice is an antithesis of
Arbitariness
 m.blessan@gmail.com

Principles of Natural Justice

No one should be
Nemo In Propria
made a judge in his
Causa judex,esse
own case, or rule
debet
against bias

Hear the other party,

Audi alteram partem or the rule of fair
hearing
 m.blessan@gmail.com

Ajay Hasia V Khalid Mujib

• Regional Engineering college
made admissions on the
Arbitrariness basis of oral interview after a
written test.

• The court held allocation of

1/3 of marks for interview
was plainly arbitrary and
violative of article 14.
 m.blessan@gmail.com

It embodies both Article 14 is

Article 14 allows
positive right as available both to
reasonable
well as negative citizens as well as
classification
right non citizens

Principles of
Arbitrariness is
Natural Justice Rajbala v State of
anti-thesis to
form part of article Haryana
article 14
14

Summary