Judiciary should leave governance to those elected by people: LawMin
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said the judiciary should leave governance to "those elected by the people". Speaking at an NHRC event in Delhi, he observed that notwithstanding his "great respect" for the judiciary, of late, "I am seeing a propensity of certain courts to take over the government". The Narendra Modi government has had differences with the SC on various matters.
One key reason for the government-judiciary tussle is the appointment of judges: the government wanted the NJAC implemented to give the executive more powers; the judiciary batted for its independence. On the matter of Aadhaar, despite the SC observing it cannot be made mandatory, the government has increasingly expanded its scope. It also rapped the Centre for imposing President's Rule in Arunachal and Uttarakhand.
Prasad said the judiciary has the right to remove unconstitutional or arbitrary laws and punish politicians abusing power. But "they must hold accountability to their power," he said. "The governance and accountability go hand in hand. You cannot take governance and not be accountable."
