Study Guide · Chapter 15
Article 32 vs Article 226
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The single most-tested comparison in this Part:
| Article 32 | Article 226 | |
|---|---|---|
| Court | Supreme Court only | Any High Court |
| Purpose | Only to enforce Fundamental Rights | Fundamental Rights or "any other purpose" (i.e., also for ordinary legal rights) |
| Itself a Fundamental Right? | Yes — Dr. Ambedkar called it "the heart and soul of the Constitution"; cannot be suspended except under Art. 359 during Emergency | No — it is a constitutional power conferred on High Courts, not itself an FR |
| Territorial reach | All of India | Within the High Court's territorial jurisdiction |
| Discretion to refuse | Limited — SC generally cannot refuse to entertain a genuine FR violation | Somewhat wider — High Courts may decline in favour of an equally efficacious alternative remedy |
This is precisely why the great majority of Indian PILs begin at a High Court, not the Supreme Court — Article 226 is deliberately the wider door, even though Article 32 is the more emphatically guaranteed one.
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