“Go tell your government to read our judgements,” said the Supreme Court to the Solicitor General of India on Friday. Justice RF Nariman was hearing the Enforcement Directorate’s plea challenging the order of the Delhi High Court granting bail to Congress leader DK Shivakumar.
"Please read our dissenting judgment in Sabarimala. Our judgments are not to be played with. Tell your government that our judgments stand,” Justice Nariman said.
Justice Nariman pulled up the Enforcement Directorate after the court realised that the agency’s plea against Shivakumar’s bail was copy-pasted from its plea against former Home Minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram. In one place, the ED plea referred to DK Shivakumar as former Home Minister. DK Shivakumar is an MLA and former state Minister from Karnataka.
Justice Nariman was among the five judges on the Constitution bench in the Sabarimala issue, but he and Justice DY Chandrachud dissented with the majority decision to refer the issue to a larger bench. In the dissenting judgment, the two judges said that the decisions of the Supreme Court are binding on each and every citizen in India.
“Today, it is no longer open to any person or authority to openly flout a Supreme Court judgment or order, given the constitutional scheme.. Let it be said that whoever does not act in aid of our judgment, does so at his peril – so far as Ministers, both Central and State, and MPs and MLAs are concerned, they would violate their constitutional oath to uphold, preserve, and defend the Constitution…” Justice RF Nariman said in the judgement.
He also pointed out that the Constitution places a “non-negotiable obligation” on all authorities to enforce the judgments of the Supreme Court
“Compliance is not a matter of option. If it were to be so, the authority of the court could be diluted at the option of those who are bound to comply with its verdicts,” the judgment said.
The judges added that it is the bounden duty of all ministers, Centre or state, to follow Article 144 of the Constitution in letter and spirit. Article 144 mandates that all authorities civil and judicial, in the territory of India, shall act in aid of the Supreme Court.
“It is incumbent upon the executive branch of Government and all MPs and MLAs to faithfully aid in carrying out decrees and orders passed by the Supreme Court of India when such decrees and orders command a particular form of obedience, even where they are not parties to the litigation before the Supreme Court. Any deviation from this high constitutional principle is in derogation of the oath taken by every Minister and Legislator during his term of office,” the judgment adds.
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