PART IV DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLES OF STATE POLICY

Article 39A: Equal justice and free legal aid

¹[The State shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice, on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall, in particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities.]

Footnotes in the official text

1.Ins. by s. 8, ibid. (w.e.f. 3-1-1977).

Leading cases

Hussainara Khatoon v. Home Secretary, State of Bihar (1979)Free legal services for an accused unable to afford a lawyer are implicit in Article 21, and the State cannot deny speedy trial by pleading lack of resources; under-trials held beyond the maximum sentence were ordered released.

Questions on this article

11 questions in 20 of our papers cite Article 39A. Try these from the free papers:

1. In Charan Lal Sahu v. Union of India (1989), the Supreme Court upheld the Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster (Processing of Claims) Act, 1985, under which the Central Government represented the victims of the gas leak in their claims. The doctrine relied upon to justify the State acting on behalf of the victims was:
2. Article 39A of the Constitution (a Directive Principle) provides for:
3. Article 44 of the Constitution (a Directive Principle) provides for:

Practise questions on Constitutional Law