Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday said that in October 2016 Supreme Court undid a "historic parliamentary mandate" when it struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC)—the Centre's flagship project. "There is no parallel to such a development in democratic history where a duly legitimised constitutional prescription has been judicially undone," Dhankar said in a direct attack on the Supreme Court.
In his maiden speech before the Rajya Sabha, Dhankar sought to strike a balance between the Legislature, the Judiciary and the Executive, when he said democracy blossoms and flourishes when its three facets scrupulously adhere to their respective domains. "Any incursion by anyone has the potential to upset the governance apple cart," he added.
Dhankar said we need to bear in mind that in democratic governance, the primacy given to the people's mandate was the "Basic of any 'Basic Structure'". "Parliament is the exclusive and ultimate determinative of the architecture of the Constitution," he added.
The Vice President's remarks—he is also the Rajya Sabha Chairman—comes in the backdrop of the escalating feud between the Centre and the Supreme Court collegium over the appointment of judges to the higher judiciary.
The Supreme Court accused the Centre of sitting over files even as the Law Ministry on November 25 expressed "strong reservations" about names and asked the Supreme Court collegium to reconsider 20 files pertaining to the appointment of judges to the higher judiciary.
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Centre faced with grim reality of frequent incursions
Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said the parliament's power to amend the constitution was "unqualified and supreme" and did not warrant "judicial intervention" except for cases involving substantial questions of law.
In any democracy, Parliamentary sovereignty is inviolable. We all here are under oath to preserve it, the VP said. "We are indeed faced with this grim reality of frequent incursions," he added.
"The sublimity of Doctrine of Separation of Powers is realised when Legislature, Judiciary and Executive optimally function in tandem and togetherness, meticulously ensuring scrupulous adherence to respective jurisdictional domain," Dhankhar said addressing members of the upper house on the maiden day of the Parliament's Winter Session.
NJAC had people's mandate
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Centre in 2014 had passed the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, which introduced the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) – a proposed body to deal with the recruitment, appointment and transfer of all judges, judicial officers, legal officers and legal employees.
"There was unprecedented support," Dhankhar said recalling the events of August 13, 2014 when the Lok Sabha "unanimously voted" for NJAC "with there being no abstention".
This House too, passed it unanimously on August 14, 2014 with one abstention. Rarely in Parliamentary democracy, there has been such massive support to a Constitutional legislation, Dhankhar said in his almost 13-minute-long speech.
Perhaps hinting at what's to come, Dhankhar added, that the Parliament "being the custodian of the ordainment of the people, is duty bound to address the issue".
"Time for all constitutional institutions to reflect and give quietus to public display of adversarially challenging stance/trading or exchange of advisories emanating from these platforms," he added.