Supreme Court drama: Menaka Guruswamy flags ‘political use’ of proceedings; Solicitor General Tushar Mehta counters

A video of Wednesday’s hearing wherein the bench refused to agree with Guruswamy’s submissions that it was essentially a Centre-state dispute for which the remedy lay in filing a suit under Article 131 had made it to social media and invited several reactions.

The senior counsel had, in the course of the arguments, cited jurist H M Seervai’s commentary on the Constitution wherein he had cited that “there can be no mandamus against the crown”. She had said, “There can be no mandamus to the sovereign, there can be no doubt, both because there would an incongruity in the Queen commanding herself to do an act…”. Justice Mishra had then queried, “Who is the queen here?”

Mehta had then questioned if Guruswamy was comparing the respondents to the crown. “Are the respondents crown?… Fortunately, we are in a democracy. Nobody is a crown.”

As the video of the hearing spread, social media users wondered whether Guruswamy was referring to Banerjee as the queen.

‘Don’t abuse proceedings as a tool to be used on social media’

On Thursday, Guruswamy said that though Mehta was saying he would argue on maintainability, he was actually arguing on the facts of the case. Mehta said he was on maintainability, but was not giving a lecture on it.

Guruswamy then referred to the video on social media. Justice Mishra said, “We saw it”.

Objecting to the interruption, the solicitor general asked Guruswamy to sit down so that he could continue with his submissions. Guruswamy retorted, “Don’t talk to me like that…Do not talk to me like that in a courtroom again.”

Intervening, Justice Anjaria told Guruswamy, “This is not the way.” To this, Mehta said, “She speaks to every law officer like this.”

Guruswamy repeated her charge. “He uses proceedings in Your Lordships’ court on social media, and a major political party posts it,” she said.

The solicitor general said it may have gained traction on social media because she compared the state government to the crown. Guruswamy denied comparing it to anything and added, “This is how Your Lordships’ court is abused. I did not compare it to anything. And please don’t abuse the proceedings in this court as a tool to be used on social media.”

Mehta said, “I have nothing to do with politics. But never ever compare a state government a democratic government with anyone, either a crown or a queen. Otherwise, I will object to it.”

“I was talking of a pre-constitutional position. The only person behaving like a crown is you. You behave like an unelected crown and monarch,” Guruswamy responded.

The solicitor general said, “A very dignified silence can be the only answer to this kind of behaviour. I cannot behave like a street fighter,” and proceeded to make his submissions.

The bench said it is an era of live court proceedings, and even it cannot stop the media.