Kya Samvidhaan Sach Mein Khatre Mein Hai? Legal Eagle Harish Salve Answers

New Delhi: Harish Salve, former Solicitor General, Senior Advocate in Supreme Court and King's Counsel, has said that there is a need for a debate on the Constitution and highlighted from where the threat to it is coming from. Salve's comments have come ahead of the dabate on the Constitution in the ongoing winter session of the Parliament.

Responding to Republic Media Network's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami when asked “Is there a need for a debate on the Constitution?" Harish Salve said there is a need for this debate as there was only one time when the Constitution came under a shadow.

Harish Salve said those who brought the Constitution under a shadow are today leading the charge of it being in danger, though it does not matter but it needs to be debated.

Speaking about whether there is a threat to the Constitution and freedom, Salve focussed on a more important question which is “Where the threat to freedom is coming from?”

Salve said that the threat to the Constitution comes from the proposals which are defying the judgements of the Supreme Court without full debate.

Mentioning that when you talk of people sharing of the resources in a particular manner and when you are selling this idea of anarchy saying we must make sure the poorest of the poor must get equal share of resources in the country, Salve said these are fires which are lit and become very difficult to douse.

“And once they are lit on the ground then the rule of law comes under the cloud. Governments are pushed to the corners where they suppress freedoms and that’s where things starts unravelling, so first of all, there must be an agreement on two-three issues if you have to prevent threat to the Constitution,” Salve said.

First, the constitutional institutions should be allowed to work in the spirit of the Constitution and the two biggest constitutional institutions are Parliament and the Courts.

As far as the Parliament is concerned, we need to have a rule of conduct on how the Parliament should now be run. The kind of yelling and shouting which keeps happening is disheartening.

So many people are there who had worked very hard and want to make a speech but are disrupted because people are shouting and the Parliament is being disrupted.

Parliament is meant to enact laws but nobody is paying attention to that, you must see how the laws are enacted in the UK Parliament. There is a first reading, second reading and a third reading, clause by clause, the discussion takes place. But when have you last seen this in our Parliament? So this is how we have to restore the good sense of the Parliament, Salve emphasised.

Further speaking on the functioning of the government, Harish Salve said that the important laws are passed in 45 minutes and most of the time is waisted on rhetoric of relatively little national relevance in the Parliament. The streets are there for protest marches, Parliament if you want to make it a talking protest but it must go on… so this is one important debate people must have.