Abstract

With the Supreme Court becoming an omnivorous arbiter of the last, and in current period, even the first, resort, there has been an increasingly mounting pressure on this guardian of the Constitution to secure the aspirations of the common man. The Constitution of India vests wide ranging powers in the Supreme Court to protect the fundamental rights of the citizens and these are the very rights that secure to the citizens their aspirational prowess. The following article seeks to expound the theoretical underpinnings of the common-law system in which our Supreme Court works and how such a system has bestowed upon the court a way of ensuring the rights of citizens is preserved. The article goes on to discuss a variety of cases, including three landmark ones and finally concludes on a humble note to remind the readers that not every story of heroism is a fairy-tale and has discovered its own pit-falls owing to vulnerability to Indian political context. The theme of social preservation features as an important pivot which sustains the framework on which the workings of the court is modelled. The socio-legal aspects discussed in the article seek to reaffirm the transformative role played by the Supreme Court in asserting its commitment to “equitable justice”.

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