Indirect Application Of Fundamental Rights Over Non-State Actors: Scope Of Administrative Law

Indirect Application Of Fundamental Rights Over Non-State Actors: Scope Of Administrative Law In Horizontal Application Of Fundamental Rights

Yashasvi Goyal, Advocate Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh, India

Introduction

In this paper, I will try to answer how, with the help of administrative law, the courts of the country broaden the scope of fundamental rights provided by Part III of the Indian Constitution. Generally speaking, most of the rights given under Part III are available to the citizens of India are available only against the 'state' as defined by Article 12 of the Indian Constitution. There are only a handful of rights that can be directly used against another private individual that does not fall under the definition of 'state' by an individual in the country. The rights that are available only against state action are known as Vertical Fundamental Rights, whereas the rights available against actions by non-state actors are known as Horizontal Fundamental Rights. It can be seen from the constitutional debates that the constitutional makers of the country were keen on making most of the rights available with the citizens to be available only against the State and not the private actors as, at that time, the State had the total power in the country. They were the ones that could infringe the rights of the citizens. Also, the main motive was to make the State accountable for its actions so that the State does not turn into a totalitarian state.

This type of thinking was suitable in the past, but no longer. The dawn of Globalisation in the world and the Application of New Economic Policies in the country made several essential functions of the State to be now under the control of private entities who are not covered under the fundamental rights. Due to this, a large portion of the lives of people previously controlled by the State is now under the control of Private 'non-state' actors. They consequently have the power to violate the fundamental rights of the country's citizens without fear of prosecution.