Balancing acts

Both executive & judiciary should respect constitutional boundaries

Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra appeared to be talking past each other in their public engagement over judicial appointments and spheres of constitutional responsibilities at a National Law Day event over the weekend. Each excoriated the other’s institution for transgressing boundaries in an exercise that amounted to throwing stones from glass houses. Mr Prasad focused his criticism on the Supreme Court striking down the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC), which sought to give politicians and representatives of civil society a say in appointments to the higher courts. The merit and demerit of