The Judiciary as Guardian of Social Justice: A Study in Transformative Constitutionalism in India

The Constitution is known as the “law of the land or living law of the country”. It can be compared to “grundnorm” of Kelson and thus it is the legitimacy criteria of validity of any law or any executive action in India. The Indian Constitution has served as a check and balance between the necessity of adhering to or following procedural rules and the flexibility to meet the requirements of the changing society. Transformative constitutionalism, which is essential to the evolution of society toward greater democracy and progress, is one of the most important features of the constitution. Transformational constitutionalism is a methodical approach that prioritizes safeguarding each person's fundamental rights and liberties in order to achieve the objectives of the constitution. The Indian Constitution is based on the idea that the machinery of law may be used to achieve significant objectives for improving the societal wants in an electoral democracy. The Supreme Court acts as the guardian and interpreter of the Constitution, along with growing recognition that the Indian Constitution is a flexible rather than a rigid one and has allowed it to implement these changes acknowledging its need. The philosophy of transformational constitutionalism has been strengthened by a number of recent Supreme Court rulings.