New Delhi, Aug 1 : Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday said that it was not the job of the Supreme Court and the High Courts to govern through public interest litigations and said that law-making better be left to Parliament.

Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Prasad said: "I want to state that only those elected by the people and answerable to the house have the right to govern and to make laws."

Stressing that the government was committed to judicial independence, he said: "I want to say this with humility that it is not the job of the High Courts and the Supreme Court to govern through PILs."

"The Constitution has given this right to selected group of people," he added.

Prasad said that he supported PILs if they were used against the corrupt but these should not be used to make laws.

As for the cases pending in various courts at different levels, the Minister said: "The government's job is to ensure infrastructure for the courts, but ultimately the judgments have to to be given by judges only."

He also said that he had written to the judiciary to suggest that five-year-old criminal cases and 10-year-old civil cases should be cleared on priority.




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Tumakuru (Karnataka) (PTI): Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Saturday said the police have been instructed to take legal action against those involved in hoarding and black marketing of LPG cylinders.

Amid supply constraints caused by the West Asia conflict, he expressed hope that the supplies would be restored at the earliest.

"If anyone tries to hoard or black market gas cylinders, legal action will be taken against them. Police have been given instructions in this regard across the state...We will not allow it," Parameshwara told reporters here.

Quoting officials, he said there are no issues with supply of domestic gas cylinders as of now. Though, there are supply issues concerning commercial gas cylinders.

"Hotels may face problems for a couple of days, efforts are underway to resolve the issue," he added.

He expressed hope that gas and oil supplies from Gulf countries would improve soon, citing reports that a couple of Indian vessels had passed through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran granted India some exemptions.

Responding to a question, the Minister said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has convened a special cabinet meeting on March 27 to discuss internal reservation in recruitments. "We expect the issue to be resolved that day."

"After the cabinet decision, the government will issue an order, following which the recruitment process will start. The government said it will hold recruitment for over 56,000 posts, everything is ready for the process. In my own department (Home department) 8,000 vacancies will be filled. We will immediately adopt (the reservation related decision) and start the recruitment process," he added.

Reports have emerged about rifts between SC (Right) and SC (Left) factions within the ruling Congress regarding internal reservation during the recruitment announced for 56,432 vacant jobs.

The state government had recently decided to conduct recruitment for 56,432 vacant jobs based on the reservation order in force before December 28, 2022 (15 per cent for SCs and 3 per cent for STs), due to the stay on the enhanced quota and internal reservation, while continuing to pursue its case in court.

The previous BJP government had increased the reservation quota for SCs from 15 per cent to 17 per cent and for Scheduled Tribes from 3 per cent to 7 per cent, raising the state’s total reservation to 56 per cent, exceeding the Supreme Court-mandated 50 per cent ceiling.

While the matter is still in court, the Congress government decided to provide internal reservation by slicing up the 17 per cent reservation matrix given to 101 scheduled castes, under three groups, with a formula of 6, 6, and 5 per cent respectively.

According to sources, the SC (Left)/Madiga community, which has fought for internal reservation for decades, opposes recruiting for 56,432 jobs without providing internal reservation. The SC (Right)/Holeya community, however, favoured recruitment without providing internal reservation.