SC: Judiciary becoming ineffective due to Law Ministry

The Judiciary is becoming ineffective because of the lack of cooperation from the Ministry of Law, the Supreme Court said on Sunday. Speaking at the hearing of the petition to extend a stay order on a High Court verdict, the top court also criticised the government for not seeking expert opinion from university teachers, former justices, the Law Commission and legal experts before enacting a law. The government filed the petition seeking an extension of a stay order the Supreme Court ordered on May 14 on a High Court verdict that declared executive magistrate-run mobile courts illegal. A seven-member bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha heard the petition and extended the stay until July 2. As the petition was placed before the court, it addressed Attorney General Mahbubey Alam and asked on what grounds the government was filing the petition. In reply, the attorney general said in the four days that mobile courts had been ineffective, there had been 37 incidents of child marriage. The court then asked if the government wanted a parallel court, to which the attorney general said no. “This [the stay] is for taking immediate action to suppress crime,” he told the court. The court also asked under which law a mobile court can be operated. Mahbubey replied: “Only those offenders who confess to committing crimes will be punished.” The bench also asked whether it was logical to enact a law depending on the prescription by someone from the Law Ministry. It said the Judiciary is not an opposition to the government, and that the Judiciary always pronounces decisions to keep the country's law and order situation under control. But the country's Judiciary is becoming ineffective because of the Law Ministry, the court said. It told the attorney general: “You will convey this message to the government to find a solution.”