Political parties came together on Tuesday against the recent Supreme Court verdicts disallowing reservation for SC/ST/OBCs in faculty positions in AIIMS and barring jailed politicians from contesting elections and convicted ones from continuing in office.
There was also a consensus to bring the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill during the ongoing session, but pass it only after proper scrutiny by the Parliamentary Standing Committee.
At the all-party meeting called by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath, political parties asked the Government to file a review petition against the judgement against reservation in AIIMS faculty positions. Though some parties like the JD(U) wanted a Bill to be brought in Parliament, majority favoured judicial review.
The Government has already filed a review petition against jailed politicians being denied from contesting elections, but parties arrived at a consensus to amend Representation of Peoples Act to undo judicial pronouncement.
BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said that the Supreme Court had recently allowed jailed Italian marines facing trial for murder to go to their country to cast their vote, but it is adopting a different yardstick when it comes to Indian politicians. This verdict will be misused by political adversaries to put others in jail on any pretext thereby denying them the opportunity to contest elections.
Parties agreed that a Bill should be brought to nullify the Supreme Court verdict debarring politicians convicted for over two years from holding posts, but the BJP and left adopted a cautious note so as not to convey the impression that politicians have come together to nullify the court’s attempts to decriminalise Indian politics.
The Congress and BSP wanted that the Bill be passed during this session, but BJP and left parties insisted that it should be forwarded to the Standing Committee so that even the civil society and activists could give their views. Terming the judicial appointments as a sensitive issue, the BJP and left insisted that the Bill to be referred to the Standing Committee and that it can be passed during the Winter Session.
Sushma raised the Robert Vadra land deal issue saying that a debate be allowed and left parties supported it but Kamal Nath wanted the parties to cooperate so that Parliament can function and these legislations, along with Food Security Bill could be taken up.
left parties blamed the Government for not being able to manage smooth running of Parliament.