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Severely inappropriate: Dhankhar on Sonia’s ‘govt seeking to delegitimise judiciary’ remarks
Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s statement that the government was trying to “delegitimse the judiciary” was “severely inappropriate” and showed “lack of faith in democracy”
New Delhi: Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday said senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s statement that the government was trying to “delegitimse the judiciary” was “severely inappropriate” and showed “lack of faith in democracy”.
At the Congress parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday, UPA chairperson Gandhi was reported to have said that a “troubling new development is the calculated attempt under way to delegitimise the judiciary”.
“Ministers — and even a high constitutional authority — have been enlisted to making speeches attacking the judiciary on various grounds. It is quite clear that this is not an effort to provide reasonable suggestions for improvement. Rather, it is an effort to reduce the standing of the judiciary in the eyes of the public,” the former Congress president had said.
Her comments were made in the backdrop of the escalating tension between the government and the judiciary over several issues, including the appointment of judges to constitutional courts.
Reacting to the Congress leader’s statement, Rajya Sabha chairman Dhankhar said, “The observations are severely inappropriate, indicating lack of faith in democracy, making this exceptional response unavoidable.”
On assuming charge as the chairman of the Upper House, Dhankhar had referred to the standoff between the judiciary and the executive, citing the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) as “glaring instance” of “severe compromise” of parliamentary sovereignty and disregard of the “mandate of the people”.
Referring to his earlier speech, Dhankhar said, “...I had underlined that in any democracy, parliamentary sovereignty is inviolable. We all here are under oath to preserve it. Power of the Parliament of the day to act in exercise of its constituent power to amend by way of addition, variation or repeal, any provision of this Constitution in accordance with the procedure is unqualified and supreme, not amenable to Executive attention or judicial intervention, except for the purpose of deciding any case involving a substantial question of law as to interpretation of the Constitution envisaged in Article 145(3) of the Constitution.”
Dubbing parliamentary sovereignty as being quintessential to democracy and non-negotiable, he said democracy “blossoms and flourishes” when its three facets — the legislature, the judiciary and the executive — scrupulously adhere to their respective domains.
“...Further I had indicated that this House is eminently positioned to take affirmative steps to bring out congeniality amongst these wings of governance. The statement imparted by the Hon’ble Chairperson of the UPA is far distanced from my reflections. Delegitimising the Judiciary is beyond my contemplation. It is pillar of democracy,” he said.
“I would urge and expect leaders across the political spectrum to bear in mind not to subject high Constitutional offices to partisan stances,” he added.
