SC blames govt for abuse of discretionary powers

Expressing anguish over abuse of discretionary powers by politicians and officials, the Supreme Court on Monday said perhaps "the worse" had set in during the 1975 Emergency when the judiciary had upheld certain perceived illegalities.

A bench of justices G S Singhvi and Asok Kumar Ganguly concurred with the views of senior counsel Ravishankar Prasad and Ranjit Kumar that there was a decline in the moral values of all pillars of democracy in the country including the judiciary.

In 1976, a five-judge Constitution Bench had upheld the Indira Gandhi' government's decision to suspend the fundamental rights.

"Yes, the worse has come from here (apex court). It started in the 70s...in 1976, then again in 1986 the Maruti Udyog discretionary allotments to the President, Prime Minister, Lok Sabha Speaker and even the judges themselves which was upheld in the judgement," the bench remarked.