Vice-President should not undermine judicial independence: Hiremath

A file photo of social activist and the leader of Samaj Parivartana Samudaya (SPS) S.R. Hiremath.
| Photo Credit: SRIDHAR KAVALI

Taking exception to Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankar’s recent remarks on Supreme Court’s functioning, president of Citizens for Democracy S.R. Hiremath has urged the Vice-President to refrain from making such statement as it will undermine judicial independence.

Addressing presspersons in Hubballi on April 23, Mr. Hiremath said that it was not just the vice-president of India, but also some of the Union Ministers and members of Parliament who had resorted to unwarranted remarks against the Supreme Court, which was not a good development.

Mr. Hiremath said that judiciary should work independently, as it had been doing, and none should interfere in the functioning of the judiciary. Emphasising that all three branches of the Constitution were important in the effective functioning of a democracy, he said that one should allow other branches to work under the constitutional framework, and none should forget that judiciary had the wisdom to decide on constitutional issues.

Referring to the golden jubilee conference of CFD (founded in 1974 by Jay Prakash Narayan) which was held at Gandhi Peace Foundation in New Delhi recently, Mr. Hiremath said that, in his inaugural address, former judge of the apex court Justice Madan Lokur spoke on ‘constitutional morality’ and noted that the country is now facing a moral crisis.

“During the conference, a resolution on the ‘undeclared emergency’ under Prime Minister Narendra Modi since 2014 was passed. It was resolved to call upon all concerned organisations and individuals to launch a united fight against the NDA government. It was also resolved to launch a national cultural movement to defeat the ideology of the Sangha Parivar,” he said.

On the fight of SPS (Samaj Parivartana Samudaya) against illegal land grab at Beninganahalli, allegedly by Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, Mr. Hiremath said that the apex court would hear the matter on April 29.