Apex court's 'basic structure' verdict set bad precedent: V-P

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday questioned the landmark Supreme Court judgment that evolved the doctrine of basic structure, asking if the judiciary can put fetters on the Parliament's powers to amend the Constitution and frame laws in a democratic nation.

JAIPUR/NEW DELHI: 

"In 1973, a very incorrect precedent was started in India. In the case of Kesavananda Bharati, Supreme Court gave the idea of basic structure, that Parliament can amend the Constitution but not its basic structure. With due respect to judiciary, I cannot subscribe to this. This must be deliberated. Can this be done? Can Parliament allow that its verdict will be subject to any other authority?... Otherwise, it will be difficult to say that we are a democratic nation," remarked Dhankhar.

Opening a new front in the ongoing tussle between the executive and the judiciary over the judges' selection mechanism and the division of powers between the two wings, Dhankhar also expressed his indignation at the 2015 Supreme Court judgment quashing the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, which had proposed a greater role for the government in the appointment of judges.

Dhankhar is not the first VP to use the platform of the presiding officers' meeting to question the Supreme Court. In 2020, then VP Venkaiah Naidu spoke against the court's overreach, citing the ban on firecrackers and the NJAC decision. "Occasionally, concerns have been raised as to whether they (judiciary) were entering the domains of the legislative and the executive wings," he had said.