No contempt if Parliament and state legislature simply make laws: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has said that any law enacted by Parliament or a state legislature “subsequent” to a court order cannot be held an act of contempt, and the enactment would have the “force of law” unless declared “null and void” by a Constitutional Court.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and S C Sharma said this in a May 15 order disposing of a 2012 contempt plea alleging that the Chhattisgarh government failed to comply with the SC’s directions to stop support to vigilante groups like Salwa Judum and arming tribals in the name of special police officers (SPO) in the fight against Maoists.
The contempt plea contended that even after the SC on July 5, 2011 ordered winding up of Salwa Judum’s activities, the Chhattisgarh government in September that year legislated the Chhattisgarh Auxiliary Armed Police Force Act, 2011, which authorised an auxiliary armed force to assist security forces in dealing with Maoist violence and legalised existing SPOs by inducting them as members.
The contempt plea — as well as the main petition on which the SC’s 2011 order had come — were filed by former Delhi University professor Nandini Sundar, author Ramachandra Guha and former Andhra Pradesh Tribal Affairs Secretary E A S Sharma.