Chief Justice of India, Justice Deepak Misra and Union Law Minister Rvai Shankar Prasad publicly disagreed with each other on the role of judiciary in holding the elected government to account.
While responding to the Prasad’s assertion that governance “must remain” with those elected to govern, Justice Misra said that there could be no compromise on a citizen’s fundamental rights.
On Prasad’s remark that “PILs cannot become a substitute for governance”, the CJI said the Supreme Court believed in and practised “constitutional sovereignty”.
“The citizens’ rights have to be at the pinnacle.. The fundamental rights are in the core value and the bedrock of the Constitution. An independent judiciary with the power of judicial review has been conferred with the power of the ultimate guardian of the Constitution to strike a balance to ensure that respective governments are functioning as provided by the law within their respective domains,” he was quoted by PTI.
Speaking at an event to mark the Constitution Day Justice Misra also said, “The Supreme Court of India today believed that we are only under Constitutional sovereignty and we shall practise it.”
Speaking at the function, the Law Minister said though PILs served the purpose in dispensing justice to the poor, they should not be used as a substitute for governance and the law-making powers of the executive and the legislature. “PILs should not become a substitute of governance and the government because the founding fathers gave this right to those elected to govern,” Prasad said. He said law-making must be left to the realm of those elected to make the law.
Justice Deepak Misra public disagreement with a senior member of Modi’s cabinet at an event where the prime minister was also a guest assumes significance because the CJI has often received flak for some of his judgments suiting the ideologies of the Modi government.
(With inputs from PTI)