Government organs should not overstep their limits: LS Speaker Meira Kumar

JAIPUR: Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar today cautioned government organs against "overstepping" their assigned limits so as not to undermine the constitutional scheme of checks and balances.

"No organ of the State should encroach into the functions which essentially belong to another, nor should it abdicate its essential functions and thereby undermine the constitutional scheme of checks of balances," Kumar said at a symposium at the Rajasthan Assembly here.

The Speaker also underlined the importance of proper understanding among various institutions in the interest of the nation.

"It is always of utmost importance to have a proper understanding among the organs of State. If they overstep their assigned limits, each of them would suffer and in the process the ultimate victim will be the larger national interest," she said.

Kumar pointed out that the issue of judicial activism was attracting attention from various quarters.

"The issue of judicial activism is attracting the attention of constitutional experts, legal luminaries and others. Some parliamentarians and legislators are of the view that the judiciary has at times been found overstepping its jurisdiction and entering into the Executive or the legislative domain.

"The proponents of judicial activism take it as an assertion of judicial power, a part of judicial review authority and the necessary in-built mechanism to uphold the Rule of Law and the principles of natural justice," she said.