Citizens must inculcate symbolic qualities represented by Indian flag: Union law minister
Meghwal delivered a speech in Hindi during the 79th Independence-Day celebrations organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association on the lawns of the apex court here.
He said the constituent assembly had formed an ad-hoc committee to select a flag for the country, for which the colours and other features had to be decided.
"The three colours and other things were generally selected. But there was a charkha in the midst to which B R Ambedkar, a member, objected, saying it would appear to be the flag of a political party. So there was a controversy.
"When Ambedkar argued, it was explained to him that the spinning wheel meant progress by working round-the-clock, to which he said the Ashok Chakra or Dhamma Chakra had a similar meaning, where all its 24 spokes implied constant movement, work and progress," Meghwal said.
He said Ambedkar also explained to the committee that each of the 24 spokes represented different virtues and principles.
"I have also written an article about it one spoke represents compassion, the others mercy, brotherhood, equality and justice to all. One of the spokes also represents facing adverse situations with fortitude just like all of us are celebrating this Independence-Day event despite heavy rain and storms," he said to a rousing applause from the gathering.
Meghwal said citizens must inculcate the virtues and qualities symbolised by the Indian flag.
"We must inculcate equality, mercy, compassion, brotherhood. We must learn from the flag," he said.
The Union law minister also said that Ambedkar championed the drafting of the Constitution with a strong emphasis on equality, while underscoring that equality in the society would secure freedom.
Addressing the gathering, SCBA president Vikas Singh said the apex court is the protector of the freedom available to citizens, including the freedom of expression, security, culture, religion and diversity.
"The freedom from British rule should culminate in independence or freedom for the people of this country. And when I say freedom of the people of this country, I mean the freedom which involves equality, security, freedom of thought and expression.
"And when you analyse the freedoms that come with independence, whatever it be, whether it be freedom of expression, thought or of security or quality or choices or your preferences, your culture, your religion, your diversity then the only protector of all those freedoms is this great institution, which is the Supreme Court," Singh said.
He said one of the features of independence included the appointment of judges to the higher judiciary.
"If we do not have the right people managing the judiciary, we cannot expect the right decisions for the people of this country, and we then ultimately will not get the true freedom which we strive for," Singh said.
He said the National Judicial Appointments Commission had two parts one, regarding finding out the eligibility of people who should be considered for elevation to the high courts and the Supreme Court, which had a system of creating a database for people who should be considered for elevation, and two, about who will appoint these people from that database.
"The NJAC was struck down on the second point that the government cannot be given primacy in the appointment of judges to the higher judiciary. And I totally agree with that part of the judgment that it has to be with the collegium.
"But the first part of the NJAC of collecting data and of preparing a database of lawyers who are eligible to be appointed was not even commented on in that judgment and accordingly, I had drafted a law and given it to the predecessor of Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal for bringing out a bill to regulate the collegium system," the SCBA president said.
He said the purpose of the first part of the NJAC was to provide judges with a "secretariat where they should be able to collate the names of all the eligible people and ensure that the best people from the system are considered for elevation to the higher judiciary".
Singh said Rijiju mentioned his suggestion in Parliament, but there was no outcome.
"In the NJAC judgment, there is a mention of the memorandum of procedure . Unfortunately, that MOP has not been deliberated upon for a large number of years.
"And I am quite hopeful that in the present dispensation, we can have a meaningful dialogue on the memorandum, which can bring in this transparency in the matter of appointment of judges, which can bring in this system of creating the database of people who should be considered eligible for appointment to the higher judiciary, which can be a base," he said.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
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