‘Some court rulings gave a distinct impression of an overreach,’ says vice president
Venkaiah Naidu noted that the legislature too had ‘tended to the cross the line’ at times.
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday said that none of the three organs of the State – the legislature, executive and judiciary – could claim to be supreme as the Constitution held the most important place, PTI reported. Naidu noted that some judicial rulings gave a distinct impression of an overreach and that the legislature too had “tended to the cross the line” at times.
Naidu made the remarks while addressing the 80th All India Presiding Officers’ Conference on coordination between the three branches of the State. He observed that harmony lies in the legislature, executive and judiciary doing their own job and not interfering with the functioning of the other.
However, the vice president said that there have been instances of interference. He gave examples of the judiciary deciding on bursting of firecrackers during Diwali and denying the executive a say in the appointment of judges through Collegiums. Naidu said the judiciary must not act as the “super executive” or the “super legislature”.
The Vice President Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu along with President Shri Ram Nath Kovind, Lok Sabha Speaker Shri Om Birla and other Presiding Officers from states at the 80th All India Presiding Officers' Conference in Kevadia, Gujarat. #80AIPOC_Kevadia pic.twitter.com/FJX2z0Budp
— Vice President of India (@VPSecretariat) November 25, 2020
In 2018, the Supreme Court had ordered that only firecrackers with reduced emission and “green crackers” can be manufactured and sold. Earlier this month, the National Green Tribunal had imposed a blanket ban on the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-National Capital Region as the air quality deteriorated.
Naidu added that there had been debates about whether the judiciary should have “more legitimately” left certain matters to the other two organs. “Since Independence, the Supreme Court and the High Courts have delivered several far-reaching verdicts in furtherance of socio-economic objectives, besides making correctional interventions,” he was quoted as saying by PTI. “But occasionally, concerns have been raised as to whether they were entering the domains of the legislative and executive wings.”
Naidu said that the legislature had tended to cross its boundaries too. “The 39th Constitution amendment placing the election of president, vice president and prime minister beyond the scope of judicial scrutiny in the circumstances in 1975 is one such instance,” he added.
