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Lok Sabha Speaker should have accepted SC notice: Sorabjee Hyderabad | January 21, 2006 10:38:44 PM IST Former Attorney General of India and eminent jurist Soli Sorabjee today said the Lok Sabha Speaker should have accepted the Supreme Court notice on the expulsion of MPs and given a reply explaining the stand taken by him and all the parties, respecting the judiciary. Delivering the ''First Endowment Lecture'' in the memory of M Seshachalapathi, former judge of Andhra Pradesh High Court, and later answering questions from mediapersons at NALSAR University campus, Mr Sorabjee said the judiciary and the legislature was neither superior nor inferior to each other and both institutions should know their limitations within the framework of the constitution. ''No one was above law and the rule of law would always prevail. In not accepting the notice of the Supreme Court, the very principle of rule of law was ignored,'' the jurist observed. He asked ''What would be the consequence if the House punishes a person and sends him to seven-day custody? Should the judiciary examine the question of disproportionate punishment or not?'' Replying to a question about the legal consequences of the Speaker's rejection of Supreme Court's notice, Mr Sorabjee said the Supreme Court would go ahead with the hearing by appointing an attorney. ''No one can say that the judiciary should not interfere in any case dealt in any manner. If any authority takes penal action and if such action is not in accordance with the principles of natural justice, the Judiciary could interfere'' he opined. ''No one is beyond the scrutiny of the judiciary'' he said. Answering questions on the Karnataka political crisis, Sorabjee said the action of the Governor in giving sufficient time for the floor test was perfectly appropriate. He said that if the Chief Minister felt he had lost majority, he should have gracefully tendered his resignation. UNI JRK MSJ HS2208 -- Cheers, Gabe Menezes. London, England
