Disciplining parliamentarians is not the job of the court and we must not cross our lakshman rekha, said Chief Justice of India Hl Dattu on Thursday as the Supreme Court dismissed a PIl to ensure Parliament functions without disruptions.
A PIl filed by Foundation for Restoration of National Values had argued that proper conduct of Parliament was a fundamental right of citizens and stalling of its regular sittings was a breach of public faith and led to a drain of public money, which needs to be curbed.
The Bench of CJI Hl Dattu and Amitava Roy said, “We should know our lakshman rekha… We should not be overstepping our boundaries to tell Parliament how it should be conducted. That job is of the Speaker to manage what happens in Parliament.”
Advocate Ravi Prakash Mehrotra, who represented the PIl petitioner, informed the court that the NGO, having a board of eminent advisers such as former SC judge Justice MN Venkatachaliah, corporate giant Ratan Tata, former DMRC chief E Sreedharan, former CVC N Vittal among others, did not intend to “monitor” the proceedings of Parliament but wished to fill a “vacuum” resulting from absence of any rules to ensure frequent disruptions do not mar the functioning of publicly-elected bodies.
The Bench showed petitioner the mirror and asked, “In how many courts we have frequent dharnas and strikes that stall functioning of courts. We have not kept our own house clean and you want the court to monitor what happens in Parliament. We are not here to teach parliamentarians how to function.”
Referring to the speech of President on the Independence Day when he had criticised disruptions to Parliament sittings, the petitioner said such disruptions were recurring of late and even the recent Session of Parliament failed to conduct any business due to permanent stalling of House proceedings by political parties.
The Bench reminded the petitioner that it was for the parliamentarians, who are experienced and wise, to seriously take the advice of the President, the first citizen of India. “If we start advising them and making suggestions on what they need to do and not do in Parliament, we will be overstepping our limits,” said the Bench before dismissing the petition.