Observing that separation of powers was the cornerstone of democracy, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Friday said no authority could interfere with the legislature’s constitutional right to make laws and enforce executive accountability.
The constitutional mandate to the judiciary was to interpret the laws and not to make them or to lay down general norms of behaviour for the government, Mr Chatterjee said in his opening address to the All India Conference of presiding officers and secretaries of legislative bodies here.

Recurring tensions
Alluding to recurring instances of judiciary-legislature tensions, he said the judiciary could not exercise its power of judicial review to lay down new policies or to direct actions to be taken up by the executive.
Stressing the importance of harmonious co-existence of the separate organs of democracy, he said the time had come to introspect whether they were discharging their duties and functions as mandated by the Constitution.
“Our object is not to find our areas of conflict or confrontation but to stress where there should be harmonious co-operation between the two organs,” he said.
Expressing concern over indiscipline and falling standards of debate in legislative bodies, he regretted that 73 hours were lost in the last budget session due to disruptions. 
Dignified conduct of the members of the legislatures, both inside and outside the chambers, was an essential pre-requisite for an effective parliamentary system, Mr Chatterjee said.
Though the maintenance of order in the House was the primary duty of the presiding officer, the members owe a duty to co-operate with the chair.