Mumbai: Stopping short of calling it a protocol violation, Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai on Sunday expressed his displeasure over the absence of senior Maharashtra government officials, including the Chief Secretary, from his first public event in the state after taking oath as the head of the Judiciary.
“It’s a question of respect by the other organs of the institution to the judiciary,” said CJI Gavai, addressing a felicitation programme organised here in his honour.
“If the Chief Justice of India is visiting Maharashtra for the first time, and the state’s Chief Secretary, the Director General of Police, and the Mumbai Police Commissioner don’t feel it appropriate to be present, then they need to reflect on that. There’s nothing new about the protocol — it’s a matter of respect from one constitutional institution to another,” he said.
CJI Gavai said, “When the head of a constitutional institution visits the state for the first time, the kind of reception given to them must be considered carefully… These may seem like small matters, but people need to understand their significance.”
The three pillars of democracy -- the judiciary, the legislature, and the executive -- are equal, and every organ of the Constitution must reciprocate and show respect to the other, he said.
The CJI’s remarks come at a time when there is a perceived tension between the Judiciary and the Executive, aggravated by the use of strong words by constitutional functionaries like Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and some MPs amid allegations of judicial overreach in the Tamil Nadu Bills case.
In a candid observation, the CJI also sought to use the Mumbai event to remind the Executive about the Constitutional conventions and limits.
“If it had been one of us in such a situation, discussions about Article 142 might have taken place,” he said, amid a light-hearted applause from the audience.
Article 142 of the Constitution grants the Supreme Court the power to pass any order necessary for doing complete justice in any case or matter pending before it.
This power of the top court has become a matter of debate following the Tamil Nadu Bills case verdict, which is perceived to have brought the functioning of the President and Governors under judicial review by setting a time limit for granting assent to Bills.
The verdict, in which the apex court relied upon its powers under Article 142, also raised critical issues related to federalism and the right of a citizen to good governance.
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