Finance minister Arun Jaitley again criticised the judiciary on Monday over its overreach and made it clear it should draw its own “Lakshman rekha” and not take decisions that fall in the executive’s
Finance minister Arun Jaitley again criticised the judiciary on Monday over its overreach and made it clear it should draw its own “Lakshman rekha” and not take decisions that fall in the executive’s domain. He said activism has to be blended with restraint and there can’t be a compromise with other aspects of the basic structure in the name of the independence of the judiciary.
Mr Jaitley had said last week in Parliament that “step by step, brick by brick, the edifice of India’s legislature is being destroyed” due to judicial activism. Emphasising that “executive decisions are to be taken by the executive and not by the judiciary”, Mr Jaitley said: “Judicial review is the legitimate domain of the judiciary, but the Lakshman rekha has to be drawn by all the institutions themselves. The Lakshman rekha is very vital.”
Speaking at an interaction hosted by the Indian Women’s Press Corps here, the minister reasoned there are different kinds of recourse and “layers of accountability” available when the executive takes decisions. He said people have the option of challenging a decision by the executive, and the courts can also strike it down. All these options are not available when the court takes executive decisions, Mr Jaitley argued.
Interestingly, Mr Jaitley has over the past few days repeatedly flagged the judicial overreach issue. Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, he had urged legislators to refrain from handing over budgetary and taxation powers to the judiciary. The minister’s remark came while replying to the Congress demand for a dispute redressal mechanism under which a judge would resolve any dispute between the Centre and states on the Goods and Services Tax.
On Monday, Mr Jaitley also referred to the protests by many states against the Supreme Court’s decision on the National Eligibility Entrance Test and asserted that the manner of holding the exam across the country should be essentially an executive matter as it fell within the domain of policy.
“I think this matter is essentially in the executive domain. We now have a Supreme Court judgment. We will have to see how we deal with that particular issue,” he said.
“Just as independence of the judiciary is part of the basic structure, the primacy of the legislature in policymaking is also part of the basic structure. In the name of the independence of the judiciary, we cannot compromise the other two basic structures,” he said. The minister stressed he was not going into any specific issue but speaking on the issue of constitutionality.
Speaking on the issue of paid news, Mr Jaitley said that excessive publicity had become a tool of “political bribery”, and underlined the need to tackle the “big menace” of paid news. Hinting at a link between excessive advertisements and paid news, he said paid news cannot get the protection meant for the free press.
