CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW

UNIVERSITY

Rough Draft
On
Right to work and working conditions and its
constitutional perspective.
(Labour Law-II)

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Ms. Pallavi Shankar Pratiyush Kumar
(Faculty-Labour law) Roll No: 1750
Course: B.A.LL.B

(5TH SEMESTER)
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METHOD OF RESEARCH

The researcher has adopted a purely doctrinal method of research. The researcher has made
extensive use of the library at the Chanakya National Law University and also the internet sources.

Sources of Data
The following secondary sources of data have been used in the project-

1. Articles
2. Books
3. Internet

Method of Writing
The method of writing followed in the course of this research paper is primarily analytical.

Research Questions
The researcher has formulated following research questions:

1. How is right to work and right to livelihood co-related?

2. What are the constitutional provisions with respect of right to work as mentioned in our
constitution?
3. Does right to life under Art 21 includes right to work and right to livelihood?
4. What is the approach and judicial interpretation of right to work as done by courts in
various cases?
5. Why right to work is a Directive principle of state policy and not a fundamental right?
6. What are fair working conditions and different enactments enumerating the same?

Aims and Objectives:

The researcher aims to study the provisions relating to Right to work and fair working conditions as
provided by the Constitution of India and the approach of judiciary with the help of case laws and
provisions.

Hypothesis
 1) The researcher presumes that if there is an obligation upon the state to secure the citizen
an adequate means of livelihood and the right to work, it would be sheer pedantry to
exclude these from Right to Life under Art 21.
2) The researcher presumes the right to livelihood (Right to work) is a DPSP and not a
fundamental right is not because of the fact that government finds it not feasible to
include it into Fundamental right but is because of the fact that state have no capacity to
guarantee the same.

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 INTRODUCTION

India is one of the most populated countries in the world, facing the massive problem of unemployment.
The problem of unemployment is a serious one and it leads to a number of consequences including
personal disorganization, family disorganization, social disorganization and irreparable financial losses.
Majority of the poor in India continue to live in rural areas and depend on wage labour for their survival.
The right to minimum means to live a life with human dignity is an unwritten implication of the guarantee
of human dignity which includes basic living conditions implying some kind of employment.
Unemployment is not only a social problem it is an individual problem also. An unemployment person
loses self-respect and faces a discouraging and a disappointing outlook.1His plight affects himself, his
family and the society too. Equal employment opportunity is a prerequisite for equal accessibility to
achieved status. Realization of human personality is only possible when there is a scope of substantial access
to employment. Thus, opportunity for employment becomes imperative in all such cultures which claim to
be democracies. This minimum has to be provided and protected by the state through appropriate
governmental policies and qualitative execution of those policies. The issue is not purely legal since it has
economic, social and political dimensions. However, in a welfare state like our appropriate legislations and
the judiciary can do a lot to secure the „right to employment‟, one of the basic human rights. India is a
signatory to all the employment-related human rights documents, which it is obliged to satisfy. In addition to
different provisions of Part III and Part IV, the Preamble of the Indian Constitution which ensures Socio,
Economic and Political justice, provide a strong legal foundation to make the right to employment a reality.
Moving towards “rights based approach” particularly after 1978, the Government of India has undertaken a
number of comprehensive programmes in the form of social security or social assistance measures and
social security legislations to address the various needs of different target groups. The National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 aims at enhancing livelihood security of households in rural areas of the
country and guarantees wage employment at an unprecedented scale. In this backdrop this chapter attempts
to discuss the concept of right to employment from constitutional perspective and its development and
statutory recognition in India. Indian Judiciary has played an important role in recognizing right to
employment within the content of “right to life” guaranteed as fundamental right under Article 21 of the

1
C.N. Shankar Rao, "Sociology – Principles of Sociology with an Introduction to Social Thought",594-600 (6th ed.
2006).
Constitution. Considering the role of the Indian Judiciary to this end an attempt has also been made to
examine the Jurisprudential and Constitutional validity of the right to employment within the
existing legal system in India.

TENTATIVE CHAPTERISATION
1) INTRODUCTION
2) LEGAL FRAMEWORK-INDIAN PERSPECTIVE
3) RIGHT TO WORK AS DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLES OF STATE POLICY
4) ROLE OF JUDICIARY TOWARDS RIGHT TO WORK
5) CASE LAWS ANALYSIS
6) CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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