'Courts must keep in mind limitations of state'

Agartala, Aug 13 (IANS) Courts should keep in mind weaknesses and constraints of the state and authorities before issuing directives and judgments, a Guwahati High Court judge has said.

"The judgement and directives should be pragmatic and as per the law of the land. Court orders must consider the weaknesses and limitations of the state and authorities," Justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari said here Sunday.

Addressing a seminar on 'social justice and judicial institutions' late Sunday here, the judge said: "Social, political and economic justices are interdependent... Law of the land has tied the court or the judges to achieve the goal of the Indian Constitution."

Present at the seminar were Supreme Court Judge Dipak Misra and Guwahati High Court Chief Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel among others.

"Dignity of people and social justice are inseparable. Insensitivity to people's concerns amounts to the violation of law and social justice," Justice Misra said.

"The government programmes must ensure the utility (usefulness for all)," the apex court judge added.

He said that inadequate toilet facilities in educational institutions or mismanagement in the mid-day meal scheme could be called social injustice.

Justice Goel in his address said that freedom fighters fought with the British to achieve social justice and wanted the foundation of the country to be based on it.

Justice Subhashish Talapatra of the Guwahati High Court said: "Reckless flouting of the social justice and the denial of equal opportunities reflect a tendency that is anti-national."

"The Indian Constitution stipulates no citizen should be discriminated against on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, and place of birth or any of them," Justice Swapan Chandra Das of the Guwahati High Court said.

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