Political banter finds its way into legal arguments in SC

NEW DELHI: When many senior advocates have political leanings and some of them represent political parties as members of Parliament, political viewpoints seamlessly sneak in as banter even during the proceedings before the Supreme Court.

During the hearing on appeals filed by civil servants who were dismissed by Assam govt on discovery of a pervasive cash-for-job scam in Assam Public Service Commission, senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, who is also TMC MP in Rajya Sabha, on Thursday told a bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and R Mahadevan that the court had an unusually heavy cause list of 83 cases.

When Justice Amanullah said the daily case list often exceeds 100, Guruswamy took the opportunity to take a political dig at the NDA govt and remarked that the cause list matches the rising petrol and diesel prices and the depreciation of value of rupee against dollar, both hovering around the figure of 100 at present and which is a go to issue for opposition to criticise the Centre.

For Assam, senior advocate and BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli was not the one to let this pass without him joining the banter. “These arguments don’t hold water as these have been wholesomely rejected by the people’s courts in the states.” The bench and the advocates were left in splits by the quick political repartee.

In the ongoing hearing of dispute between RIL and Union govt over overdraw of natural gas by RIL and its international partners from ONBGC block in KG Basin gas field, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, former minister in Cong-led UPA govt and now an independent Rajya Sabha MP, said the manner in which the Centre is questioning the international arbitral award, it is bound to dissuade foreign technology infusion and investment in India. “It is already happening and the economy is slowing down,” he said.