SC ruling on ninth schedule laws ''unfortunate'' : Left

New Delhi, Jan 12 (UNI) The Left parties today termed as ''unfortunate'' the Supreme Court's ruling that laws in the ninth schedule did not enjoy absolute immunity from judicial scrutiny and asserted that Parliament's autonomy should not be diluted.

Reacting to the apex court's judgment, which was hailed by the BJP yesterday, they said the ninth Schedule was designed to ensure social progress and protect the rights of the poor and the marginalised from the ''conservative and rightist forces''.

The Supreme Court had said that about 250 laws put in the ninth schedule for blanket protection from judicial scrutiny would be open to review if they damaged the basic structure of the Constitution or infringed upon fundamental rights.

The apex court had also recently asserted that acts of Parliament were open to judicial scrutiny.

Talking to UNI, CPI(M) and CPI leaders said the fathers of the Constitution had vested the legislature with the role of protecting the interests of the people.

CPI(M) Floor leaders in the Lok Sabha -- Basudeb Achariya and Rup Chand Pal said this ''unilateral safeguard'' should not be appropriated by any other organ.

While Mr Achariya termed the judgment as ''unfortunate'', Mr Pal said this particular safeguard for the executive's urgent decisions to protect the interests of the people should not be impinged upon.

''Actually in our Constitution, all the three wings -- the legislature, the executive and the judiciary -- have their autonomous regions. One should not interfere with the their autonomy,'' they added.

CPI Parliamentary Group leader Gurudas Dasgupta said the ninth schedule was enacted on the initiative of the country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1951 for protecting law reforms.

Even late prime minister Indira Gandhi had to take recourse to the ninth schedule for nationalisation of banks, Mr Dasgupta said, adding that it was designed to ensure social progress and the rights of the weaker and oppressed sections.

The Left leaders feared that if the ninth schedule was ''diluted'' and brought under scrutiny, the country, particularly the poor and marginalised, would run the risk of losing the protection of their rights under law.

The CPI leader said it was not merely a case of diluting the authority of Parliament, but also raised a basic question as to how the interests of the poor would be protected in the face of an ''offensive of the rich, the affluent and the powerful''.

''Sometimes it appears that the judicial system is not always favourably disposed towards the rights of the people,'' Mr Dasgupta added.

On the BJP's reaction welcoming the judgement on the plea that the ruling would go a long way in ending vote bank politics, the Left leaders said it was '' one-sided''.

While Mr Dasgupta said the BJP had always been pro traders, Mr Pal said the safforn party's reaction was ''one-sided and prejudiced''.

UNI