‘Must ensure House supremacy’
Political leaders cutting across party lines on Thursday felt that Parliament should send out a clear message to the judiciary about its supremacy during the Monsoon Session beginning on August 5.
In fact, this was the sense of the meeting of Floor leaders called by parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath.
Though, the Parliament session could be stormy with the Opposition planning to corner the UPA government further through parliamentary tactics and unlikely to oblige it for passing the food security bill without any amendments, they were unanimous on sending a strong message to the judiciary. In the meeting, they were critical of the Supreme Court judgments relating to disqualification of legislators and disallowing reservation in the faculty of AIIMS. Later, Mr Nath said leaders expressed concern over the “erosion of supremacy” of Parliament by the top court judgments, one of which also debarred anyone behind bars from contesting elections.
There was no clear indication from the government but there was speculation that steps may be taken to nullify the court orders through amendments to the electoral law and passage of the National Judicial Commission Bill that has a provision for scrapping the present collegium system of higher judiciary appointments.
After the 90-minute meeting, Mr Nath told mediapersons that all parties expressed concern over the top court judgments and wanted the National Judicial Commission Bill to be introduced as well as passed in this session itself. Some leaders wanted the government to “respond” to the top court judgment against reservation in the faculty of AIIMS and the orders relating to disqualification and barring those in jails from contesting which they felt could lead to vendetta and anarchy.
The session, which concludes on August 30, will have 16 sittings. As many as 44 bills are planned to be taken up for consideration while six are to be withdrawn and 14 are to be introduced. Food Security Bill, on which an ordinance is already in place, is among the proposed legislation.
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