tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9237907.post112005279636919729..comments2024-03-06T00:30:08.915-08:00Comments on Secular-Right India: Courts Shouldn't LegislateUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9237907.post-1120136584988839412005-06-30T06:03:00.000-07:002005-06-30T06:03:00.000-07:00Your points are well taken.Because of this morass,...Your points are well taken.<BR/><BR/>Because of this morass, our courts are bogged down deciding issues that really ought not to be there. Couple years ago, we were chatting with a senior Supreme Court of India advocate, and realized with some shock that his practice is not constitutional law -- but commercial law. We were under the (naive) assumption that the Supreme Court handles only constitutional issues, and appeals. That this is not so was quite a revelation.<BR/><BR/>Best regards.Primary Redhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16140741949208891119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9237907.post-1120104471985854342005-06-29T21:07:00.000-07:002005-06-29T21:07:00.000-07:00There is no way courts should legislate from the b...There is no way courts should legislate from the bench, but only interpret the law in case of disputes. The problem though in India is that the state and central government don't always legislate, as in pass a law in the respective houses. Instead they just pass an ordinance, usually in the middle of the night.<BR/><BR/>A very recent example of this is the Tamil Nadu Govt's decision to do away with entrance exams for the Engg. and Medical colleges. They issued a GO (Govt. ordinance) to this effect. But they did it at the eleventh hour. Students had been preparing for the entrance exams for 2 years and after they wrote it a couple of months back, the Govt. decides to do away with it this year. they could have atleast done it for next year (would have still been wrong). The students then went to court and the Madras High Court quashed the GO. A few das before the TN govt. passed the Go, the DMK (opposition party in TN) passed a resolution in its party executive meeting that entrance exams should be done away with. This points to the GO being used for political means(I am shocked, shocked, I say, that politicians use power for political means).<BR/><BR/>The courts also show no signs of not legislating from the bench. They are a law unto themselves. They set up enquiry commissions, smack people with contempt of court for speaking out against their judgements. They have not yet shown blatant political bias (as say <I>Bush v Gore, 2000</I>), but those days maybe not be far away.Rajagopalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17670432820966241636noreply@blogger.com