The Union government submitted in the Supreme Court on Tuesday that courts could not test the constitutional validity of the National Judicial Appointments Commission until the law was notified.
A Special Bench of Justices Anil R. Dave, J. Chelameswar and Madan B. Lokur was hearing the maintainability of a batch of petitions challenging the validity of the NJAC Act and the 99th Constitution Amendment, which received the President’s assent but is yet to be notified by the government.
Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi was clarifying arguments by Fali Nariman, senior advocate for the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association, that once the President gave his assent, the NJAC law came into “operation” and could be challenged in a court of law. “The moment an enactment comes into operation, it becomes law and can be challenged on any permissible grounds such as want of legislative competence, violation of fundamental rights and it not being warranted by provisions of the Constitution,” Mr. Nariman’s note said.
