I am a Supreme Court judge only because of Dr. BR Ambedkar: Justice BR Gavai

Supreme Court judge Justice BR Gavai on Monday lauded the architect of the Indian Constitution, Dr. BR Ambedkar, for enabling those from the marginalised communities to find their voice and make a mark in the society. .Dr. Ambedkar's contributions to the country meant that even a person studying in schools in slum areas could rise to become a judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Gavai said taking his own example. "The credit of the origin of the Indian Constitution goes to Dr BR Ambedkar ... It is only because of Dr BR Ambedkar that a person like me who studied in a semi slum area at a municipal school could reach this position," he said..Justice Gavai along with Justice AS Oka was speaking at the Ambedkar Memorial Lecture on the topic, 'Article 32: History and the Future'.Justice Gavai is set to become the 52nd Chief Justice of India and would be the second person from the Dalit community to hold the post. .In his address, he opined that Article 32 has been used as a tool for transformative justice."Dr Ambedkar said the Constitution is not a book for lawyers but a way of life" he stressed..Justice Oka in his address called for debates on constitutional subjects and constructive criticism of the judiciary.He said that the Supreme Court discourages Article 32 (enforcement of fundamental rights) petitions, given its mounting case arrears."Some may argue that the Supreme Court should entertain all Article 32 pleas without sending them to the High Courts. But we are not living in an ideal world and if there was no pendency of cases then the scene would have been different. There are 80,000 cases pending in the Supreme Court. We are not only a constitutional court but also an appellate court ... when we have mounting arrears we need to fix our priorities."On a dedicated bench to hear such cases, Justice Oka said,"I had only one answer. This question has to be before the master of roster and no one else.".Justice Oka flagged the trend of businessmen deploying an army of lawyers for their Article 32 cases before courts and consuming judicial time in the process.Hence, he said that there should be a debate on whether a test should be laid down on invoking Article 32. "There are prisoners who have been denied permanent remission, there are appeals by accused who have been incarcerated for long. But there are businessmen also who come with a big team of lawyers consuming time of court and arguing that article 19(1)(g) is violated. Then how do we bring equality between the common convict and the businessman. Should there be some test laid down which say that only if these tests are adhered to then article 32 can be invoked. Thus, this is a debatable topic as to whether such a test can be laid down and restrict its (Supreme Court's) own power," he said. We must invite a debate on the enforcement of fundamental rights by our court and how far have we been successful in this, he added..Senior Advocate Indira Jaising also spoke at the event, and said her home lies in the Indian Constitution."Whenever someone asks me where I am from - I am flummoxed! I am from Sindh but it has no State in India. So when I ask myself where I am from, the answer is my home is in the Constitution of India. I live under the kawach (protective cover) of the Constitution of India. But Article 15 needs a definitive interpretation of the Supreme Court.".The lecture was hosted by web portal The Leaflet in association with the Society for Constitution and Social Democracy..[Follow our live-coverage of the event]