Legislature cannot surrender power to anyone: Somnath

Thiruvananthapuram, May 25: Spelling out the relationship between the Legislature and the Judiciary, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee today said the Legislature could not surrender its absolute power on the assumption that any other organ has ''inherent superiority or a monopoly of concern for the people or it can alone solve their problems.'' Inaugurating the 72nd Conference of Presiding Officers of Legislative Bodies in India here, he said that the discharge of executive responsibilities by any other authority, howsoever highly placed, but non-accountable, was anathema in a democracy.

''In my view, no authority can interfere with the Legislature's absolute Constitutional right to enforce executive accountability,'' he added.

Mr Chatterjee pointed out that democracy did not contemplate any single public functionary which would have absolute power and the Constitution did not contemplate the existence of any organ having over-riding authority on others.

''The Constitutional mandate to the judiciary is to interpret the laws and not to make them, nor to lay down general norms of behaviour for the Government or to decide upon public policy. The scope of judicial review is confined to the enquiry as to whether any impugned legislation or an executive action falls within the competence of the Legislature or of the executive authority or is consistent with the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution or with its other mandatory provisions,'' he added.

The Speaker said the judiciary could neither exercise its power of judicial review to lay down new policy nor direct actions to be taken which were of executive nature, nor could take upon the mantle of executive authority.

''Time has come for the organs under our Constitutional set up to introspect their respective roles and to consider whether they are discharging their duties and functions in accordance with the Constitutional mandate or whether while exercising some power they are creating avoidable tensions, affecting the harmonious relationship between the organs,'' he added.

UNI