The Kerala government was chided by the Supreme Court for enacting a law to “overreach” the state high court’s order banning roadside rallies.
“Perhaps, this is the only state in the country where the government is saying that citizens need not obey the law laid down by the courts. This (roadside rallies) is a problem for the people.”
The Supreme Court said the prompt action to pass an enactment to nullify the verdict showed that the government was “pro-active” in overreaching court orders, be they issued by the high court or the Supreme Court.
The reference was apparently also to the earlier action of the state government passing a legislation to "frustrate" the Supreme Court verdict on the Mullaperiyar dam issue, which had led to a prolonged litigation in the apex court.
“What should we say on these matters? Is it that your state has a ‘proactive’ legal department? Be it a Supreme Court order or the order of the high court, you are bringing a legislation to overrule them. The high court must have passed the order in public interest,” a bench of Justices D.K. Jain and A.R. Dave told state’s counsel Bina Madhvan.
Madhvan informed the bench that while a petition challenging the HC order, filed before the enactment was pending, the HC had passed another order quashing the enactment itself.