'Parliament is supreme': VP Dhankhar renews attack on judiciary over powers

NEW DELHI: Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday reiterated that "Parliament is supreme" and elected legislators are the "ultimate masters."

While addressing students in University of Delhi, the Vice President said that every word spoken by a constitutional functionary is guided by supreme national interest.

Read also: Dhankhar slams SC timeline for decision on bills

"Let me tell you, Constitution in encapsulated it essence, its worth, it nectar in preamble of the Constitution. And what does it say, We the people of India, the supreme power is with them. No one above the people of India," Dhankhar said.



"And we the people of India, under the Constitution have chosen, to reflect their expressions, their desire, their will through their public representatives. And they hold these representative accountable during elections," he added.

Dhankhar also said that elected representatives are the "ultimate masters" of the Constitutional content.

"And therefore, let there be no doubt about it, Constitution is for the people. And its repository of safeguarding it is that of elected representatives. They are the ultimate masters as to what constitutional content will be. There is no visualisation in constitution of any authority above Parliament. Parliament is supreme," Dhankhar said.

"And that being the situation, let me tell you it is as supreme as every individual in the country. Part of we the People is an atom in democracy. And that atom has atomic power. And that atomic power is reflected during elections. And that is why we are a democratic nation," he added.

Vice President's remarks also invited criticism from the opposition and advised him to revisit the Constituent Assembly debates.

Rashtriya Janta Dal leader and Rajya Sabha MP said, "Vice-President is a respected constitutional authority, but I would urge him to revisit the Constituent Assembly debates, where the importance of balance between the judiciary and the legislature was discussed."

"The Constitution remains our ultimate guide," he added.

Rajya Sabha MP and Supreme Court Bar Association President Kapil Sibal also disagreed with Dhankhar and said that everything the court has said is consistent with the country's constitutional values and guided by national interest.

"Supreme Court: Parliament has the plenary power to pass laws. Supreme Court has the obligation to interpret the Constitution and do complete justice (Article 142)," Sibal said.


"Everything the Court said is: Consistent with our constitutional values; guided by national interest," he added

This comes days after Dhankhar took exception to Supreme Court's ruling setting a timeline for the President and governors to decide on bills, saying, "We cannot have a situation where you direct the President of India and on what basis?"

Referring to the apex court invoking Article 142 of the Constitution, which grants Supreme Court broad powers to ensure “complete justice” in any case before it, Dhankhar said Thursday this “has become a nuclear missile against democratic forces, available to the judiciary 24x7”.

The court had invoked the article while pronouncing its judgement against Tamil Nadu governor R N Ravi. Referring to the SC judgment of Apr 8, the VP said, “The only right you have under the Constitution is to interpret the Constitution under Article 145(3). There, it has to be five judges or more.”