NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court should "keep in mind separation of powers", Attorney General KK Venugopal on Wednesday said while defending the Tribunals Reforms Act of 2021, and pointed out that the top court tended to wade "into the policy domain" through its judgments many a time.
"Many of the Supreme Court judgments have gone beyond its judicial ambit. We have said it is a policy decision; yet the court went ahead... Often the court has been laying policy decisions and telling the legislature to pass such and such laws. There is a separation of powers and it should be kept in mind," Venugopal told a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and Bela M Trivedi.
The AG made the sharp comments while responding to the submission made by senior advocate Arvind Datar, who said that despite some provisions of the Ordinance being struck down by a bench headed by Justice LN Rao, the Centre had come out with an Act that has identical provisions.
Datar said that on July 14, 2021, the top court had, by a 2:1 verdict, upheld the Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance, 2021, but held as unconstitutional certain provisions related to terms of services of the chairperson, vice-chairperson and other members of tribunals.
"Within days, on July 28, the government came out with an Act with identical provisions despite various Supreme Court judgments saying that "a law cannot be brought without removing the basis of the judgment," Datar said.
When the bench asked the AG if the Act would remain valid as it is similar to the Ordinance, he said he would need time to argue on the merit of the larger issue, which is validity of the Act, as he was not informed that the arguments will be made on Wednesday.
The SC said that it would hear the arguments in July. The bench then dealt with some applications relating to the appointments in the tribunals. It sought to know from the Centre reasons for not appointing a member to Telecom Disputes and Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) despite his name being cleared by the selection committee.
Tribunals Reforms Act brought after Ordinance provisions struck down
Attorney General KK Venugopal made the sharp comments while responding to the submission made by senior advocate Arvind Datar, who said that despite some provisions of the Ordinance being struck down by a bench headed by Justice LN Rao, the Centre had come out with an Act that has identical provisions.
(With inputs from PTI)