Former Union law minister Shanti Bhushan on Saturday lauded the judiciary for playing crucial role in the fight against corruption and underscored need for having more crusaders locally to see the ill practice disappear from the country.
Addressing a gathering at two-day “Act Now — National Convention on Corruption”, Mr Bhushan stressed in forming a network with “good people” in each political party to see their influence within respective outfits grow and the fight against corruption is strengthened.
“Judiciary has played crucial role in hurting corruption. Before Constitution came into being, jurisdiction of judiciary was limited. But B.R. Ambedkar and those who fought for our freedom, they drafted such a Constitution that gave unlimited powers to judiciary through sections 226 and 32... These were used in the interest of people by judiciary,” Mr Bhushan said.
Mr Bhushan hailed Justice P.N. Bhagwati for admitting public interest litigations (PIL) in court in 1984 by defining Article 226 and Article 32 of the Constitution.
Mr Bhushan also lauded his lawyer-son Prashant for using PILs to see probe is ordered in major corruption cases like coal-gate and spectrum auction and others.
Mr Bhushan showered praises on the Supreme Court bench which had in 2013 struck down as unconstitutional section 8 (4) of the Representation of the People Act, 1952, which had allowed lawmakers to appeal before higher court and get a stay on their conviction.
