Judiciary cannot direct Prez, act as 'super Parliament': VP

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday questioned the recent Supreme Court judgment setting a time-line for the President to sign bills sent by the states and expressed concern about the judiciary performing executive functions and acting as a "super Parliament".

- Smriti Kak Ramachandran and Abraham Thomas

NEW DELHI:

"There is a directive to the President by a recent judgment. Where are we heading? What is happening in the country? We have to be extremely sensitive. It is not a question of someone filing a review or not. We never bargained for democracy for this," he said.

Referring to the April 8 judgment of the Supreme Court in its ruling in the state of Tamil Nadu versus the governor, Dhankhar said, "...So, we have judges who will legislate, who will perform executive functions, who will act as a super Parliament, and absolutely have no accountability because the law of the land does not apply to them."

He went on to say, "We cannot have a situation where you direct the President of India and on what basis? The only right you have under the Constitution is to interpret the Constitution under Article 145(3)...The judges who issued a mandamus virtually to the President and presented a scenario it will be law of the land, have forgotten the power of the Constitution.

Article 145(3) of the Constitution lays down that a case involving a substantial question of law involving the interpretation of the Constitution or a Presidential reference is to be decided by a minimum of five judges.