NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a PIL seeking a direction to the Union government to adopt the UK model of people’s petition, which forces UK parliament to discuss and debate an issue raised by citizens once the petition receives signatures of one lakh British nationals and UK residents.
Petitioner’s advocate Rohan Alva told a bench of CJI DY Chandrachud, and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala that people’s petition is a recognition of the content of the right to free speech and that the court should at least seek a response from the Union government, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
The bench was firm that the SC cannot be dictating to Parliament what procedure or practices it should adopt. “You stand outside Parliament and say what you want. You can go to your representatives, the MPs and MLAs, and present them with the petitions about your grievances. We can’t allow citizens to go and stand in Parliament and raise issues,” it said.
Alva said it is a healthy practice for people to raise their grievances in Parliament and added “it has been in practice in the UK and other countries”. The CJI said, “It may be a desirable practice in some other countries. But we don’t have to adopt it.”
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta said, “The Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha are not to be told by the SC which petitions to entertain, as they are not answerable to the SC.”
The PIL by Karan Garg requested the SC to lay down a framework under which citizens can prepare petitions and seek popular support, and if a citizens’ petition crosses a prescribed threshold, that should be taken up mandatorily for debate and discussion in Parliament.
Dismissing the PIL, the bench said: “The reliefs which have been sought falls exclusively within the domain of Parliament and state legislatures. Such directions cannot be issued by this court.”
When Alva persisted in persuading the court, the CJI-led bench said, “We must know where to draw the line. We cannot be telling Parliament what it needs to do…”
In the UK, five British citizens and/or UK residents can come together to create a petition on the UK government and/or parliament site. If the petition receives over 1,00,000 signatures, it is considered for a debate in parliament.
