28 Nov 2016

India and Botswana are both Constitutional democracies and Sovereign Republics, both with Bill of Right providing protection of fundamental rights and both espouse traditional values.This observation was made by Lobatse High Court Judge Justice Lakhvinder Walia.
Speaking at the commemoration of India’s Constitution Day Judge Walia said the principal difference was that Botswana had an executive president and a unicameral Parliament.
“Like the Indian constitution, the constitution of Botswana is supreme and none of its provisions may be set aside or varied except in terms of the specific provisions relating to altercations in terms of section 89. The Courts of Botswana have jealously guarded the supremacy and sanctity of the constitution,” he said.
Justice Walia explained that the constitution pervaded every sphere of human behavior and endeavor, having a direct or indirect effect on every human activity in the country. He said it had political, social and legal implications. He said it was obvious that there were striking differences between the two countries constitutions as they both espoused the same values and drive towards attaining similar ways of life.
“The guardian of the Indian Constitution is the Supreme Court of India. Judgments of that court, especially on constitutional matters are respected and followed by jurisdictions across the worlds. Botswana is no exception. A number of judgments of our courts have been influenced by the Supreme Court of India and our jurisprudence has been enriched thereby,” he said.
For his part India High Commissioner to Botswana Dr Ketan Shukla said the Indian Constitution was drafted by the Constituent Assembly which was elected by elected members of the provincial assemblies and took almost three years to complete the historic task. He said the constitution of India was the world’s longest made up of almost 80 000 words.
“One of the repeated criticism of the Indian constitution is that it is very little original and mostly borrowed from other constitutions. Even Dr Ambedkar admitted in the Constituent Assembly that many elements were borrowed from foreign constitutions but they were not slavish imitations but adoption of time tested constitutional principles like the ‘Rule of Law’ or ‘Equality before Law’ to serve the interests of people” he noted. ENDS