Discussed NJAC, not against judiciary: VP Jagdeep Dhankhar
Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar emphasised the need for cooperation among the executive, legislature, and judiciary to ensure judicial accountability.
A day after he chaired a meeting of political parties to discuss how a mechanism for ensuring judicial accountability could be evolved, Rajya Sabha chairman, Jagdeep Dhankhar said the three branches of government—the executive, the legislature and the judiciary—are pitted against each other, but need to work in tandem.
On Tuesday, Dhankhar had referred to the National Judicial Appointments Commission, created by a law passed in 2014 by Parliament, with support from parties across the political spectrum, but scrapped by the Supreme Court in 2015.
On Wednesday, Dhankhar said the government and the Opposition, after having wider consultations within their camps, would meet him for further deliberations on the issue.
Tuesday’s meeting was precipitated by concerns over the allegations of cash being recovered in the residence of sitting Delhi high court judge, justice Yashwant Varma. The judge has since been de-rostered, and the Supreme Court has set up a committee to investigate the matter and also repatriated him to his parent high court in Allahabad.
Addressing lawmakers in the Upper House on Wednesday, Dhankhar, referring to the meeting with the floor leaders of all parties on Tuesday, said, “There was gracious presence of leaders of political parties, including Leader of the House and Leader of the Opposition. Without going into the details, the deliberations were consensual, reflecting cooperation, concern, and the issue is not between institutions inter se. It is not that executive, legislature, or judiciary are pitted against each other...’
Reflecting on the need for better coordination between the three branches he said, “All the institutions in the country have to function in tandem, in togetherness, and there are checks and balances which are well meant. It has been given by both Leader of the House and Leader of the Opposition that after having wider consultations... they would come to the chairman for further deliberations.”
The chairman has urged lawmakers to address concerns about judicial accountability and transparency and come up with a way to put in place a mechanism for doing so.
On Tuesday he told floor leaders that it was time to “re-establish the superiority of Parliament.”
NJAC, struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2015 was passed with near unanimity in Parliament with just one abstention.
“The meeting was to gauge the mood of the parties on how to tackle the issue of judicial accountability...the NJAC has been struck down. The government will have to come to us (the opposition) with a plan...” said a senior opposition leader who was part of the meeting and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Government functionaries who asked not to be named said no timeline has been set for a fresh legislation.
A senior BJP lawmaker said the exercise of drafting a fresh bill, similar to NJAC will be “paved with challenges”.
“There was unanimity on the issue then, but the government did a lot of legwork then to get the opposition leaders on board. Now, with political differences sharper than ever, the task of eliciting support for the bill will be challenging...” the lawmaker added, asking not to be named.
At the meeting on Tuesday while opposition leaders had largely concurred on the need to ensure accountability and transparency in judiciary, they urged the government to come up with a proposal on how to address these concerns.
