The Chief Justice of India B R Gavai attended a felicitation programme by the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa on Sunday in Mumbai, where he stated that the Constitution of India is supreme, and that its pillars must support each other.
"Neither the judiciary nor the executive and the Parliament is supreme, but it is the Constitution of India which is supreme, and all the three wings have to work as per the Constitution," PTI reported. He said that all the organs of the Constitution must reciprocate and give due respect to each other.
Justice Gavai took oath as the 52nd CJI earlier this week. He expressed his gratitude that the country’s social and economic fronts continue to develop.
Furthermore, he conveyed discontent over the absence of Maharashtra’s Chief Secretary, Director General of Police or the city police commissioner to receive him during what was his first visit to Maharashtra. “If the Chief Secretary of the state, DGP or Mumbai police commissioner does not want to come there, when the CJI, who is from Maharashtra, has arrived for the first time, it's up to them to think about whether it is right or not,” he said.
He mentioned that receiving the CJI is not a protocol, but a factor of respect by other branches of the institution to the judiciary, adding that even though this is a minor matter, he felt the need to state the same for the knowledge of the people.
“When a chief of an organ or institution is coming for the first time to the state, especially when he too belongs to the said state, whether the treatment they gave was right or not, they themselves should think,” PTI quoted the CJI.
“If in my place there was someone else, then the provisions of Article 142 would be considered,” Gavai said in jest.
Article 142 of the Indian Constitution provides the Supreme Court with the power to issue orders or directions it considers necessary to guarantee absolute justice in all matters present before it. The provision also authorises the court to take measures, including summoning individuals, to facilitate proceedings.
A book containing Justice Gavai’s 50 remarkable judgments was also released during the felicitation.
