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``No judicial scrutiny of Parliament powers''

Vinay Kumar

Action questioning its authority will be violative of Article 105

NEW DELHI: If the powers and authority of Parliament are subjected to judicial scrutiny, the image and prestige of Indian democracy will be impaired, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said on Friday.

He was talking to mediapersons at the end of an all-party meeting here, which discussed the issue of the Supreme Court's notice to the Speaker on a petition filed by one of the MPs expelled from the House in the wake of the cash-for-query scandal.

"As Speaker, I cannot permit the powers, rights, privileges and the authority of Parliament being made the subject matter of judicial scrutiny, contrary to the constitutional provisions. That will seriously impair not only the image but [also] the prestige and the very basis of our parliamentary democracy, and will totally destroy the principles of Separation of Powers, which forms one of the basic features of our Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court itself."

He said the expulsion resulted not from any action by the Speaker but from votes cast or decision taken by the MPs individually. "If any action is resorted to question the authority of Parliament, it will clearly be violative of Article 105of the Constitution. In the JMM case, the Supreme Court has itself decided that only Parliament can deal with matters of discipline of its members," Mr. Chatterjee said.

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