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India's politicians move to defend turf against courts
WSN Bureau

For years now, India's courts have been shaming the executive and legislature by trampling on their domain and turf, and often while people have hailed such activism, the legal pundits have held that the reason was the poverty of the moral fibre of the executive.

Last week, politicians in Rajya Sabha slammed the judiciary and questioned strong judicial intervention and the consequent undermining of Parliament and also demanded that the collegium system for appointment of judges be reviewed.

While one MP wanted the Judges Enquiry Bill top proceed against shady judges, another called for review of the current appointment process for judges and a mechanism to handle pendency in courts.

E M Sudarsana Natchiappan of the Congress charged that the judiciary often attempts to usurp the power of legislature and regretted that Parliament is not paying attention to it. That, he said, was largely owing to the fact that the Executive was not doing its job, giving courts the occasion to intervene and issue notices on every other matter from roads to water supply. Raising objections against the system of appointment of judges, he said there were allegations that the collegium often selects relatives for top posts.

RJD’s Rajniti Prasad expressed anguish over the judiciary taking over responsibilities of the legislature and executive. Resenting that MPs were attacked over “small mistakes”, he demanded some law to protect them.

SP’s Ram Gopal Yadav said though he did not want to criticise the judiciary, the situation was so bad there was even talk about how particular lawyers should be engaged if a case was before a certain judge to ensure a favourable decision. However, Law Minister Veerappa Moily intervened and reminded that decorum must be maintained while referring to institutions like the Supreme Court.

29 July  2009
 

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