NEW DELHI, India: The Supreme Court of India has stayed the operation of judgment of full bench of Punjab and Haryana High Court, which had declared the certain provisions of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act as ultra vires of the constitution of India,
The full bench of the Supreme Court, consisting of Chief Justice RS. Pathak, Justice S. Natrajan and Justice Venkataramaya stayed the operation of the judgment of Punjab and Haryana High Court and issued a notice of motion within a week for the reply to the issues raised by the Union of India.
The government of India went for an appeal against the judgment of Punjab and Haryana High Court, given on writ petition filed by Mrs. Bimal Kaur Khalsa, widow of Martyr S. Beant Singh. The High Court had struck down certain provisions of the above mentioned Actas ultra vires of the Indian Constitution.
The High Court declared Section 16 (1) as ultra vires of the Constitution as it did not give discretion as liberty to the court to hold the trial except incamera,
In the Supreme Court, the Union of India has argued that the High Court has taken very narrow view of the various sections of the Act and its judgment has created lot of problems for the law and order agencies in the state.
It is worth mentioning that the political circles particularly the opposition, have openly started doubting the independence of the judiciary in India.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 15, 1988
