Parties back govt in assertion of executive supremacy

New Delhi: India’s political parties, otherwise locked in intense conflict in Parliament, closed ranks against the judiciary and backed the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in its assertion of executive supremacy in the face of recent court rulings.

add_main_imageThe parties also called for the speeding up of legislation that would allow politicians a say in higher judicial appointments.

At an all-party meeting on Tuesday, the government got unconditional support from all major political parties for amendments aimed at overturning two recent Supreme Court verdicts.NextMAds

Continuing its efforts to insulate parties from judicial and administrative supervision, the government aims to amend the Representation of People Act (RPA) to this end.

The Supreme Court recently barred people in police or judicial custody from contesting polls. Its ruling that lawmakers should be disqualified if convicted in a criminal case, regardless of the appeals process, is being sought to be negated through a proposed constitutional amendment.

“We talked about judicial commission and various court pronouncements. There is consensus among all political parties for effective steps to ensure supremacy of Parliament,” parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath said after the meeting. “All parties demanded amendment in the Representation of the People Act.”

He also said that all political parties want the judicial commission Bill to be introduced in this session.

The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) Bill seeks to scrap the current collegium system of appointments to the higher judiciary and the establishment of a Judicial Appointments Commission, giving the government a say in the appointment of judges of the Supreme Court and the high courts. There was a suggestion at the all-party meet that the JAC Bill be referred to the parliamentary standing committee .

The all-party meeting also discussed the Supreme Court order on reservations in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) faculty and the Patna high court order barring a candidate arrested even for a day from contesting.sixthMAds

Political experts however said such unanimity would be damaging to governance as political parties in Parliament remain divided on other important issues.

“There is a unity on only such issues where there is an enhanced vested interest like curbing criminalization of politics or being accountable under the Right to Information (RT) Act,” said Abhay Kumar Dubey, a political analyst and a faculty member at the New Delhi-based Centre for the Study of Developing Societies.

The government had introduced an amendment to the RTI Act in the Lok Sabha on Monday to keep political parties outside the ambit of the transparency law with retrospective effect.

“There is no consensus on national and governance issues. Since there is no forward movement, public interest litigations (PILs) get filed and the judiciary ends up intervening in matters like these,” Dubey added.

Political leaders disagreed with such a view.

“Judiciary cannot encroach upon any of the rights and duties of other organs of the state,” said D. Raja, senior leader of the Communist Party of India, who also attended the all-party meeting on Tuesday.

“Policy and decision making should be left to the discretion of Parliament and the judiciary cannot take everything upon themselves,” he added.

PTI contributed to this story.