NO TYRANNY OF THE UNELECTED, SAYS JAITLEY ON NJAC JUDGMENT

NEW DELHI: Indian democracy can’t be “a tyranny of the unelected” and “politician bashing” was at the centre of the Supreme Court judgment that struck down NJAC, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Sunday.

Independence of judiciary and sovereignty of Parliament must co-exist and the latter should not be weakened to strengthen the former, Jaitley, a seasoned lawyer, said, adding the ruling undermined parliamentary democracy as well as the basic structure of the Constitution.

“The Indian democracy cannot be a tyranny of the unelected and if the elected are undermined, democracy itself would be in danger,” he said in the Facebook post The NJAC Judgement – An Alternative View? The minister said the views were personal.

The Modi government’s efforts to bring in judicial reforms were dealt a huge blow on Friday when thecourtstruckdownasunconstitutional the national judicial appointments commission act and revived the opaque collegium system allowing judges to appoint judges.

NJAC would have given the government a say in the appointments to SC as well as the high courts, ending the judiciary’s stranglehold over who joins its ranks. “Politician bashing is akin to the 9.00 PM television programmes. The judgement ignores the larger constitutional structure of India,” Jaitley said.

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