2. Social Security Charter
• Article 41 – Right to work, education and public
assistance in certain cases
• Article 42 – Just and humane conditions of work and
maternity relief
• Article 43 – Living wages for workers
• Article 43-A – Participation of workers in management of
Industries
• Closely related to principles of Social Justice envisioned
under Articles 38 and 39
• Salus populi suprema lex – The welfare of the people
shall be the supreme law
3. Article 41
• Directs the State to ensure to the people
• Within the limits of its economic capacity and
development:
• Employment
• Education
• Public assistance in cases of:
• Unemployment
• Old age
• Sickness
• Disablement
• Other cases
4. Article 41: Case Laws and Enactments
• Employment – MGNREG Act, 2005
• Education – RTE Act, 2009; Art 21A
• Public assistance in cases of:
• Unemployment – Unemployment allowance
• Old age – MWPSC Act, 2007
• Sickness – ESIC Act, 1948
• Disablement – RPWD Act 1995 & 2016
• Other cases – Sec 125, CrPC
5. Article 41: Case Laws and Enactments
• Employment – Delhi Development Horticulture
Employees' Union vs. Delhi Administration (1992)
• Education – Mohini Jain, Unnikrishnan
• Public assistance in cases of:
• Unemployment -
• Old age – DS Nakara vs UoI (1983)“The goals for which
pension is paid themselves give a fillip and push to the policy of setting
up a welfare State because by pension the socialist goal of security of
cradle to grave is assured at least when it is mostly needed and least
available, namely, in the fall of life”
• Sickness – ESIC Act, 1948
• Disablement – Jus Sunanda Bhandara Foundation
case (2014)
• Other cases – Rajasthan SRTC vs Narain Shanker
(1980)
6. Article 42
• Directs the State to make provisions for:
• Just and Humane conditions of work &
• Maternity relief
Case Laws
• Vishaka vs. State of Rajasthan (1997) – POSH
2013
• Consumer Education and Research Society
vs. Union of India and Ors (1995) - reference to
ILO safety standards and the Asbestos
Convention of 1986.
• Asiad case (1982)
• P. Geetha vs Livestock Devt Board (2014)
7. Consumer Education and Research
Society case (1995)
• “it must be held that the right to health and medical care is a
fundamental right under Article 21 read with Articles 39 (c), 41
and 43 of the Constitution and make the life of the workman
meaningful and purposeful with dignity of person.
• Right to life includes protection of the health and strength of
the worker is a minimum requirement to enable a person to live
with human dignity.
• The State, be it Union or State Government or an industry,
public or private, is enjoined to take all such action which will
promote health, strength and vigour of the workman during the
period of employment and leisure and health even after
retirement as basic essentials to live the life with health and
happiness.
• The health and strength of the worker is an integral facet of
right to life. Denial there of denudes the workman the finer
facets of life violating Art. 21.”
8. Article 43
• Requires the State to:
• try to secure by suitable legislation or economic
organization or in any other way,
• to all workers, agricultural, industrial or otherwise,
• work
• a living wage
• conditions of work ensuring a
• decent standard of life
• full enjoyment of leisure
• social and cultural opportunities.
• State shall endeavor to promote cottage industries
on an individual or co-operative basis in rural areas.
Concept of living wage includes in addition to the bare
necessities of life, such as food, shelter and clothing,
provisions for education of children and insurance etc.
9. K. Rajendran v. State of Tamil Nadu (1982) 2 SCC 273
• It is no doubt true that Article 38 and Article 43 of the
Constitution insist that the State should endeavor to find
sufficient work for the people so that they may put their
capacity to work into economic use and earn a fairly good
living. But these Articles do not mean that everybody
should be provided with a job in the civil service of the
State and if a person is provided with one he should not
be asked to leave it even for a just cause.
• It would certainly be an ideal state of affairs if work could be
found for all the able-bodied men and women and everybody is
guaranteed the right to participate in the production of national
wealth and to enjoy the fruits thereof. But we are today far
away from that goal.
• The question whether a person who ceases to be a
government servant according to law should be rehabilitated
by being given an alternative employment is, as the law stands
today, a matter of policy on which the court has no voice.
10. Article 43
• K. Rajendran v. State of Tamil Nadu (1982)
• MRF Ltd vs. Inspector of Kerala (1991)
• Asiad workers case (1982)
11. Article 43-A
• Requires the State to take steps:
• by suitable legislation or in any other way to
• secure the participation of workers in the
management of
• undertakings,
• establishments or
• other organizations
• engaged in any industry.
• Inserted by the 42nd Amendment in 1976
12. Article 43-A
• Works Committee – I D Act 1947
• Welfare Committee
• Joint Consultative Machinery and Compulsory
Arbitration Scheme
• In relation to the rights of labourers in the country, the
Supreme Court observed that the workers “have a
special place in a socialist pattern of society. They
are not mere vendors of toil; they are not a
marketable commodity to be purchased by the
owners of capital. They are producers of wealth as
much as capital.... They supply labour without which
capital would be impotent and they are, at least,
equal partners with capital in the enterprise.”
- National Textile Workers Union vs. P R Ramakrishnan
(1983)
