Bharatiya Janata Party (“BJP”) presidential candidate (President-ELECT) Ram Nath Kovind believes that if the President of the country can be criticised, there is no reason why members of the judiciary cannot be pulled up.
Mr. Kovind had said in a debate in Parliament that “if the appointing authority” of judges, that is the President, could be censured, so could the Judiciary.
“If any citizen of this country can criticise the President of India for his wrong-doing, I don’t think it could be valid… if the Judiciary is exempted,” Mr. Kovind said as a Rajya Sabha member in the debate on March 3, 2006, on the contempt of courts (Amendment) Bill, 2006, moved by then Law Minister Hansraj Bhardwaj.
He, however, added, the Judiciary had been exempted “to maintain its independence.”
Mr. Kovind, who was a Rajya Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh and a former lawyer, spoke at length on the Bill that sought to reform contempt laws.
“Every citizen has got a fundamental right to speak the truth. If he wants to say anything on the matter of inefficiency or corruption, he is most welcome,” he said.
He also mentioned that the then Chief Justice of India had referred to corruption in the Judiciary.
Continue reading If President can be Censured, why not judges: Ram Nath Kovind in 2006 RS debate