Former Chief Justice of India (CJI) U. U. Lalit on Friday said that judicial review by constitutional courts was the basic feature of the Constitution, and, therefore, Parliament could not put in place a mechanism to exclude the jurisdiction of constitutional courts.
He was delivering a lecture on ‘Evolution of independence of judiciary as a basic feature of the Constitution’ organised by the Kerala High Court Advocates Association and Constitution Debate Club (CDC).
He said the power of constitutional courts was considered a basic feature, and any attempt to encroach on it had not been accepted by the Supreme Court. He pointed out that the power of constitutional courts to go into the validity of actions of legislature or executive was sacrosanct. In fact, the power of Parliament to amend laws is subject to the basic features of the Constitution, and one of them is the rule of law.
Certain provisions of the Constitution are inviolable, and they could not be frittered away or amended or modified or substituted with something else. The Supreme Court judgments in the matter of appointment and transfer of Supreme Court and High Court judges had ensured the independence of judiciary, Mr. Lalit said.
Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas spoke. Naveen T., secretary of the association, welcomed the gathering, and Jaju Babu, patron of CDC, proposed vote of thanks.
