‘Report not amenable to judicial review’
Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati on Wednesday categorically stated that the Justice Srikrishna Committee report was not amenable to judicial review.
The country’s top law officer told Justice L. Narasimha Reddy that the committee was not constituted under the Commission of Inquiries Act, and there was no scope to seek judicial review of its report. He said that the formation of a new state is a political decision and “it is not in the purview of the court”.
Mr Vahanvati was assisting the Andhra Pradesh high court dealing with a petition which wanted the contents of a secret letter on law and order that was submitted by the SKC along with its report, to be made public. The petition was filed by former MP M. Narayana Reddy, who contended that the Centre was not entitled to take into account the secret note without disclosing its contents to the public.
Mr Vahanvati contended the committee was not subject to either a writ of mandamus (issued by a superior court to a lower court or authority), writ of certiorari (order of a higher court seeking review) or writ of quo warranto (requiring a person to show what authority they have for exercising some right or power).
“If anyone is aggrieved by the SKC findings, they have to ventilate their grievance in the public domain,” he said. “If anyone feels that their views are wrongly recorded by the committee they can file defamation against SKC. If anyone has a grievance of wrong recording of his or her views by the SKC, they do not have the right to come to court to expunge from the records,” he added. Describing the SKC’s brief as a fact-finding exercise of the executive and administration, Mr Vahanvati said the apprehension of the committee on Maoist and Naxalite-related problems was not based on one-to-one meetings by its member-secretary with officials and political representatives.
At this stage, the judge asked how the fifth option of the SKC could refer to the Naxalite issue, though it did not go into forming an opinion. He said that it was only the assessment of the committee on the basis of the inputs received by it. It may be true or may not be. The ultimate decision will be taken in the interest of the state, he said, adding, “we are at the public opinion stage. If a political decision is taken, then the separate state will be formed through a legislative process.”
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