New Delhi:
Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar has again questioned the remit of the judiciary within the framework of the Indian government as laid out in the Constitution, declaring the “Parliament (i.e., the Legislative) is supreme” and that “elected representatives (i.e., the MPs) are the ‘ultimate masters’ of what the Constitution will be… there cannot be any authority above them”.
Mr Dhankhar, at an event at Delhi University Tuesday morning, also hit back at criticism of his earlier attacks on the Supreme Court, declaring that “every word spoken by a constitutional functionary (referring to himself) is guided by supreme national interest”.
Today’s comments by Mr Dhankhar, also the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, Parliament’s Upper House, follow the row he triggered by referring to Article 142 of the Constitution, which gives the Supreme Court special powers to pass orders that are enforceable across the country and are “necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it”.
Days after a landmark Supreme Court judgement that set deadlines for the President and Governors of states to clear bills passed by state Assemblies, Mr Dhankhar complained Article 142 “has become a nuclear missile against democratic forces, available to the judiciary 24×7”.