Kerala High Court Judge B. Kemal Pasha had some important counsel for lawmakers on Wednesday: MLAs could perhaps do a whole lot better with a little less of social functions and more of meaningful parliamentary business.
The judge’s lively remark came at a seminar organised to celebrate the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Kerala Legislative Assembly (KLA). Ministers, legislators and bureaucrats made up the majority of the audience inside the sprawling Member’s Lounge of the Assembly complex.
Mr. Pasha quipped that the business of lawmaking was more important and laborious than showing face and marking attendance at marriages and funerals. His remark was no comment on the functioning of the House. “It is not my intent to mock the legislature or be abrasive towards its members. I am speaking as a common man and not a judge,” he said.
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Kerala’s legislature was one of the foremost in the country. It had a storied past of innovative lawmaking. Only sustained focus on the serious legislatorial business would help the House sustain its impressive position as society’s torchbearer.
Mr. Pasha cautioned that law would become merely procedural and bureaucratic whenever Bills were passed into law without due deliberation. The Supreme Court (SC) had struck down some sections of the Kerala Professional Self Financing Colleges Act, 2006, after it found them to be unconstitutional and hence invalid.
In contrast, the apex court upheld a comparable law passed by the Madhya Pradesh Assembly. There was nothing wrong in emulating good examples of law making, he said.
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The judiciary did not promulgate laws. It only interpreted them and checked whether they were in harmony with the Constitution.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan lamented that some bills passed by the House were yet to become law because of the inordinate delay or difficulty in getting Presidential assent. He cited the Plachimada Coca Cola Victims Relief and Compensation Claims Special Tribunal Bill and the Kerala Maritime Board Bill as examples.
Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said the House also had its’ “not so proud” moments when members held up business and trespassed on the Speaker’s dais. Law making should not be like “making dosas”, he said.
Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan presided.
Deputy Speaker V. Sasi, Public Works Minister G. Sudhakaran, Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan, Minister for Ports Kadannappally Ramachandran, former Planning Board members C. P. John and G. Vijayaraghavan and Legislative Secretary V. K. Babu Prakash also spoke.