Right to Equality Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The issue attracts Article 14 and the principle of classification.

Article 14 forbids class legislation but permits reasonable classification. A classification is valid only if it rests on an intelligible differentia and that differentia has a rational nexus with the object of the law. Pension cut-off dates are the classic setting: in D.S. Nakara v. Union of India (1983) the Supreme Court struck down a cut-off that split pensioners into two classes for a liberalised formula, as arbitrary under Article 14.

Legislative competence asks whether the legislature could make the law at all, not whether it treats people equally. The doctrine of eclipse concerns pre-Constitution laws overshadowed by fundamental rights, and severability concerns whether an invalid part can be cut away from a valid statute. None of these is the primary question here.

Answer: C

Untouchability is abolished by Article 17.

Article 17 abolishes untouchability, forbids its practice in any form, and makes enforcing any disability arising from it an offence punishable by law, as provided in the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955.

Article 14 guarantees equality before law, Article 15 prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, and Article 22 gives protection against arbitrary arrest and detention.