Judiciary should also be held accountable: Law Minister

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday deprecated the tendency of courts to take over governance saying they should also be held accountable to their powers.

He said he has "great respect" for the judiciary but governance must be left to those elected to govern.

"Of late, I'm seeing a propensity of certain courts to take over the government... They (judiciary) must hold the Executive accountable by contempt. They must have the right to set right the errant politicians. These are the powers of judiciary and they must be recognised... (but) they must be held accountable to their powers," Prasad said here at a two-day seminar held by the National Human Rights Commission on good governance, development and human rights.

Prasad said that governance and accountability go hand-in-hand and that one just cannot take over governance and "not be accountable".

"Accountability is an integral part of governance," he said. "But, we must leave the governance to those who are elected to govern. Legislation must be left to those who are elected to legislate," he added.

"We have great respect for judiciary... They have strengthened the whole foundations of our democratic polity,"

He referred to the Constitution as prepared by the "founding fathers" and praised it for having a defined "power structure".

The law and justice minister said he held that view because of a 'recent' tendency seen in the judiciary to overreach.

He said that the concept of "digital spread" was to ensure an "accountable, participative and transparent India".

--IANS

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