PM: All pillars of democracy must respect limits
‘Legislature, executive, judiciary must operate within their boundaries laid out in the Constitution’
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the legislature, the executive and the judiciary should respect “boundaries” laid out in the Constitution and work together to strengthen Indian democracy.
The comments come at a time when the government and the judiciary are locked in a longrunning debate over so-called judicial activism, and a few minutes after law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra expressed differing views on the appointment of judges and public interest litigations (PIL).
“Today when we are talking about maintaining a balance between the three arms of the Constitution, we must remember that this balance is the backbone of the Constitution,” Modi said.
The balance had helped the country stay on the course of democracy even during Emergency, he added, addressing the valedictory session of the twoday National Law Day event.
To drive home the point, he quoted BR Ambedkar as saying,
“Legislature should have the independence of making laws, the executive should have independence in taking decisions and Supreme Court should have
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When we are talking about maintaining a balance between the three arms of the Constitution, we must remember this balance is the backbone of the Constitution
NARENDRA MODI, Prime Minister
the independence of interpreting the Constitution.”
Earlier, addressing the same gathering, law minister Prasad said PILs cannot be a substitute for governance. While the political class accepted the SC’s decision to strike down the National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC), there should be an audit of quality of judges appointed since 1993, Prasad said.
“If a PM and law minister cannot be trusted with appointment of judges, it’s a huge question and judiciary and polity of his country will have to look into it,” he said. The law minister was to be a member of the NJAC, proposed by the Modi government to replace the collegium system of appointing judges.
The CJI, who spoke after Prasad, said the Supreme Court believed in “constitutional sovereignty” and the power of judicial review was meant to strike a balance.
“We recognise, respect and accept the separation of powers,” the CJI said, adding the court had refused to hear several PILs as they dealt with policy matters or were in the legislative domain.
“We are not really interested to bring any kind of policy…But the moment the policies are formed, we are allowed to interpret and see that they are implemented,” he said.
While not joining the debate directly, Modi said the Constitution was like the guardian of a family, with the government, judiciary and bureaucracy as its members. “…Are we, the members of the family, working according to the boundaries which the Constitution expects us to do?” he asked.
Political parties, he said, had come up with several self-regulatory provisions such as the model code of conduct ahead of elections. “Many laws have been passed in Parliament for transparency, propriety of the political system,” the PM said.
The Constitution Day, or the National Law Day, is celebrated to mark the day the statute was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949.
WHILE NOT JOINING THE DEBATE DIRECTLY, MODI SAID THE CONSTITUTION WAS LIKE THE GUARDIAN OF A FAMILY, WITH THE GOVERNMENT, JUDICIARY AND BUREAUCRACY AS ITS MEMBERS.