Courts shall not interfere with legislature: AP Speaker

AP Assembly Speaker Tammineni Sitaram once again launched his attack on the courts on the issue of 3 Capitals bills. He asserted that the courts have no authority to meddle with the legislative business. They can’t interfere with the procedures in Assembly or Council. Former Speaker Yanamala Ramakrishnudu himself gave a ruling in 1997 that the courts should not meddle with the affairs of legislature. That ruling was still in practice. The same Ramakrishnudu is now opposing his own ruling.

Sitaram is not new to controversies. On an earlier occasion, he made a controversial statement saying that the courts and judges should come and rule the State instead of constantly interfering with the government. However, this time, the Speaker made rather mild comments. Even then, his comments came at a time when the High Court had already put brakes on the immediate Capital shifting plans of CM Jaganmohan Reddy.

Sitaram, being the Speaker, should desist from taking political sides. But he is freely crossing the democratic traditions. He is also commenting on the decision of the Council Chairman. Sitaram says there is no Select Committee that is in existence right now. So, there is no scope for the argument that the 3 Capital bills have no approval of the Council. Sitaram says that the question of the Select Committee would arise only when it was formed. He forgot the fact that the Council Chairman had issued orders for the Select Committee and the process of forming it was still on.