New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is facing the ire for criticising the Supreme Court order striking down the NJAC Act for appointment of judges.
Taking on the Finance Minister, Congress on Sunday said he should not forget that imperiousness of numbers often converts elected governments into "unabashed autocrats".
Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also targeted the Centre saying Jaitley's comments criticising the order on NJAC reflects "intolerance" of Narendra Modi government with autonomy of institutions.
"Acrimonious attack on Supreme Court by Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley (through a blog) is a travesty of constitutional sovereignty," Surjewala said. He added that arrogance of constitutional acumen undermines its fundamental ethos, 'Justice above tyranny' - whether of individual or majority, even legislative majority.
"From calling in question the 'constitutional sanctity' of Rajya Sabha, virtually directing a constitutional functionary like CAG 'to not sensationalise its findings', describing protest by authors/free thinkers as 'manufactured' and 'paper rebellion' to describing Supreme Court of India as 'tyranny of the unelected' today, Arun Jaitley's contemptuous bluster against Supreme Court of India reflects intolerance of Modi government with autonomy of institutions," Surjewala said.
He also said that Jaitley must not forget that "imperiousness of numbers often converts elected governments into unabashed autocrats with unchecked immunity from reason, justice or conscience."
Congress leader Anand Sharma also termed Jaitley's comments as unfortunate. "This is not the way to respect the court. He is a senior leader and a minister and he should have thought about it before he spoke. The government should not consider this as a failure it was a collective decision by the court," he said.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also latched onto Jaitley's remarks, saying the AAP has been demanding a Delhi shorn of "tyranny of the unelected".
"Jaitley ji on NJAC- 'Indian democracy cannot be a tyranny of the unelected'. Jaitley ji, this is exactly what we have been demanding in Delhi," Kejriwal tweeted.
In a statement, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said that it is unfortunate that Jaitley has chosen an "unwarranted expression" like 'tyranny of unelected' while referring to the Supreme Court judgment. "What is missing in the central government's response so far is that how does it intend to address the concerns raised by the Supreme Court on safeguarding the independence of judiciary," the party said.
The party also lodged its protest with the parallel drawn by the Finance Minister in comparing the appointment of judges to Election Commission and the CAG. "This is a serious contradiction in his stand from his days in opposition when Jaitley used to raise questions on the appointment of Election Commissioners by the government of the day," the AAP said.
Not just political leaders, Jaitley is also facing criticism from the legal fraternity with senior lawyers calling his statement 'surprising'.
"We have a constitutional democracy. Parliament is a feature of the Constitution. Article 79 of the Constitution says there shall be a Parliament, but there are some people who think that Parliament has created the Constitution. Parliament has legislative power but it does not have constituent power. It can amend the Constitution but cannot amend beyond the identity of the Constitution," senior lawyer AK Ganguly said.
Recalling the days of Emergemcy, Ganguly said, "Emergency was a black day for the judiciary. A man like Jaitley was detained and it should not have happened. I hope he is not thinking of bringing back those days."
Another senior lawyer Indira Jaising said, "It is surprising that this is coming from an eminent lawyer. His statement damages democracy. NJAC had no transparency."
In unusually strong remarks over the SC's reasoning for striking down the NJAC Act, Jaitley said Indian democracy cannot be a "tyranny of the unelected" and to strengthen independence of judiciary, one does not have to weaken Parliamentary sovereignty.
Terming as "erroneous logic" reasons given by a five-judge Constitution bench which declared as unconstitutional the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, 2014 and also the 99th Constitution Amendment, Jaitley warned that democracy would be in danger if the "elected are undermined".
"The Indian democracy cannot be a tyranny of the unelected and if the elected are undermined, democracy itself would be in danger," he said in a Facebook post titled 'The NJAC Judgement - An Alternative View?', which he termed as "personal views".
(With PTI inputs)
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