'Nuclear missile against democracy': VP Dhankhar's salvo at Supreme Court

New Delhi: Taking strong objection to the Supreme Court prescribing a timeline for the President to decide on bills, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday said India did not bargain for a democracy where judges would legislate, perform executive functions and act as a “super Parliament”.

The Vice President’s blistering remarks on the judiciary came during his address to the 6th batch of Rajya Sabha interns.

“We cannot have a situation where courts direct the President,” he said, adding that Article 142 of the Constitution, which gives special powers to the apex court, “has become a nuclear missile against democratic forces, available to the judiciary 24x7”.

The SC had recently invoked its powers under Article 142 while hearing a plea against the Tamil Nadu governor withholding assent to the bills passed by the Assembly.

“There is a directive to the President by a recent judgment. Where are we heading? What is happening in the country? We have to be extremely sensitive. It is not a question of someone filing a review or not. We never bargained for democracy for this,” Dhankhar said.

Apart from laying down deadlines for the governor, the court had also set timelines for the President’s decisions on referred bills.

“So, we have judges who will legislate, who will perform executive functions, who will act as super Parliament, and absolutely have no accountability because law of the land does not apply to them,” Dhankhar said.

He also questioned the lack of an FIR over the discovery of wads of burnt currency at the residence of a Delhi High Court judge, wondering whether a “category beyond law” has secured immunity from prosecution.

Raising the issue of discovery of burnt cash at the residence of a Delhi HC judge, Dhankhar said it is time for “the lid of the can of worms to go”.

“An event happened on the night of 14th and 15th of March in New Delhi, at the residence of a judge. For seven days, no one knew about it. We have to ask ourselves questions. Is the delay explainable? Condonable? Does it not raise certain fundamental questions? In any ordinary situation, and ordinary situations define rule of law, things would have been different. It was only on March 21, disclosed by a newspaper, that people of the country were shocked as never before,” the VP said.

“It is now over a month. Even if it is a can of worms, even if there are skeletons in the cupboard, (it is) time to blow up the can. Time for its lid to go out. And time for the cupboard to collapse. Let the worms and skeletons be in the public domain so that cleansing takes place,” he said.

Dhankhar said it is the law of the land that every cognizable offence is required to be reported to the police, an FIR can be registered against anyone. No permission is required.

“But if it is Judges, FIR cannot be straightaway registered. It has to be approved by the concerned judiciary but that is not given in the Constitution. The Constitution of India has accorded immunity from prosecution only to the Honourable President and the Honourable Governors. So how come a category beyond law has secured this immunity? Because the ill effects of this are being felt in the mind of one and all. Every Indian, young and old, is deeply concerned. If the event had taken place at his house, the speed would have been like an electric rocket. Now it is not even a cattle cart,” he said.