BJP MP demands ban on 'running commentaries' by judges

A Bharatiya Janata Party member on Monday demanded in the Lok Sabha a ban on comments by judges while hearing a case.

BJP member and chief whip of the party Arjun Ram Meghwal raised the issue in the Lok Sabha during zero hour.

"It's not good for democracy to make running commentaries against the people sitting in top constitutional posts by judges during hearing of the cases. It should be stopped and parliament should make provisions for it," Meghwal said.

Some of the opposition members protested, but Meghwal said: "I am not doing politics over it and no one should do politics over the issue."

He said: "Constitution has made provision for separation of powers. Legislative, executive and judiciary have been given separate powers, but in recent days we have seen judges making running commentaries during the hearing. Later this becomes law."

"They say as per Article 141 this is law of the land. There should be prohibition on this. What should be the limit of these running commentaries must be decided, and that too through parliament," he said.

Meghwal also questioned the powers of the judiciary, saying lawmaking is the prime work of parliament.

"Judiciary people say these days that they make the laws. The country is going in the wrong direction. This is not good for democracy," he said.

More than a dozen members associated themselves with this demand.

The Uttarakhand High Court, while hearing the case over imposition of President's Rule in the state, had made very strong comments, saying that the country's President was not a king who could be infallible.

The strong rebuke over imposition of President's Rule in Uttarakhand came as the bench observed: "Absolute power can spoil anybody's mind and even the President can be wrong, and in that case his decisions can be subjected to evaluation."

The bench said the right to judicial evaluation of orders passed by everyone lies with the courts.

The court had also criticised the central government during the previous hearing over imposition of President's Rule on March 27, a day before the floor test was due to be carried out in the state assembly.

--IANS

bns/rn/vt