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Govt attitude upsets SC

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Press Trust Of India New Delhi
Last Updated : Feb 25 2013 | 11:28 PM IST
Giving vent to its anguish over the "unwanted criticism" it got over the ruling on reservation in private professional colleges, the Supreme Court today said if the government was so intolerant, it could take steps to close down the courts.
 
"Tell us, we will wind up the courts and then do whatever you want," a visibly hurt Chief Justice RC Lahoti told Attorney-General Milon K Banerjee.
 
The Bench, also comprising Justice GP Mathur and Justice PK Balasubramanyan, said the criticism was uncalled for as the seven-judge Bench had a few days ago just reiterated the ruling of the 11-judge Bench judgment given years ago telling the government to bring a legislation to enforce reservation policy in private unaided professional colleges.
 
Stopping short of saying that the government did not understand the import of the recent 7-judge Bench judgment, the Bench said, "when we said please come with a legislation, you are talking about confrontation. We are told it is confrontation."
 
"You must advise your people (government) to exercise self-restraint," the Bench said.
 
The apex court, which had been at the receiving end of the legislature and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha from the time it intervened in the controversy relating to the Jharkhand government formation, gave vent to its displeasure during the hearing on a PIL seeking Scheduled Caste status for Dalit Christians.
 
The Bench was ready to adjourn the hearing on the petition by the Centre for public interest litigation as its counsel Prashant Bhushan cited personal difficulty but the attorney-general tried to narrate the initiative taken by the government on the issue of Dalit Christians.
 
When he referred to the decision taken by the government last night to set up a panel for identification of communities and thanked the court for not precipitating the matter, the court reacted sharply and said "the petition raising a serious constitutional issue has been pending for almost a year and the government takes a decision a day before it is scheduled for hearing."
 
The court, then, went on to express its deep sense of hurt over the criticism of its judgement and asked "why are we told time and again by the government that it is not taking a confrontationist attitude. Who is taking a confrontationist attitude." "If this is the attitude of the government to go after a judgement without understanding it, then wind up the courts and do whatever you want," the chief justice said.
 
When both the attorney-general and additional solicitor-general Gopal Subramaniam were at pains to explain to the court that they hold it in high esteem, the court said "should you not tell your clients to give the respect the court's deserve." The Bench said "if this is the attitude of the government towards the court then we will go on doing our duty and let them do theirs."
 
The apex court said it would continue hearing on the PIL seeking Scheduled Caste status for the Dalit Christians and let the government do its job.
 
It triggered panic reaction among the law officers who tried their best to save the situation by saying that the court's rulings should be respected by one and all.
 
Taking exception to the tenor of the statements emerging out of the government on the seven-judge Bench judgement, it said "you must advise the government to exercise self-restraint this sort of attitude "is neither good for the country nor for the government," the court said.
 
The Bench, relenting a bit, granted six weeks time to the government to give a status report on the work done by the commission set up by the government and posted the matter for further hearing on October 18.
 
Brushing aside the Centre's stand opposing court's intervention in matter relating to inclusion of any particular community in the scheduled caste lisp, the supreme court on February 11 this year had agreed to examine the legality of the sensitive issue raised in a petition demanding reservation for Dalits even after their conversion to Christianity.

 
 

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First Published: Aug 24 2005 | 12:00 AM IST

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