The Inclusion of Educational Institutions Under the Term Shopss? The Argument Made by Gautam Bhatia for the Inclusion

Abstract

The object of Article 15 of the Constitution of India is the prohibition of discrimination. Article 15(2) prohibits the restriction of access to public places which have been given under the provision. Gautam Bhatia in his article titled, horizontal discrimination and article 15(2) of the Indian Constitution: A Transformative Approach has provided a unique argument pertaining to Article 15(2) of the Constitution of India which hasn’t been applied much till date. In this article Bhatia makes the argument that Article 15(2) should have be given a wide interpretation which covers private economic transactions as well where such goods and services offered are accessible to everyone. For this he looks at the transformative nature of the Constitution and the Constituent Assembly Debates. He first questions when validity and the judicial enforcement of exclusionary covenants. For this he criticizes the Zoroastrian Cooperative Housing Society case and looks at the IMA v. Union of India judgement and the interpretation of the term ‘shops’ which is given under Article 15(2). Through various sources, which include articles, books and cases, Bhatia concludes that Article 15 was worded as such to do away with traditional discriminatory practices that pervaded the private economic realm. While this argument sounds astonishing as it is rather fascinating to see educational institutions be included under the term ‘shops’, Bhatia has grounded his argument in credible sources and has made his point come across. In this paper the researcher has tried to validate and justify the stance taken by him by discussing how his arguments have been fashioned and on what materials such arguments have been made.