Judges cannot decide on troop deployment: Centre: 

Judges cannot decide on troop deployment: Centre: 

Context

• Centre filed a petition in response to the Calcutta High Court order countermanding the Centre’s directive to withdraw certain companies from the two districts in West Bengal.

What did the petition filed by the centre state?

• The court’s direction ignores and virtually obliterates the very concept of separation of powers.
• The maintenance of order and the security of the country, which includes the deployment of police and armed forces, is a fundamental facet of the governance of the country.
• The matter is a core governmental function of the executive wing of the State and cannot be the subject matter of judicial review, or adjudication by a court
• The Centre submitted that its decision was taken after assessing the ground situation. The State government had also concurred.

What is the doctrine of separation of power?

Separation of power

• The doctrine of separation of powers is a part of the basic structure of the Indian Constitution even though it is not specifically mentioned in it.

Why is it important to create a system of checks and balances?

• The system of checks and balances is an important part of the Constitution.
• With checks and balances, each of the three branches of government can limit the powers of the others.
• Different organs of the state impose checks and balances on the other. The following examples illustrate the checks and balances:
• Judiciary has the power to void laws passed by the Parliament. It can declare the unconstitutional executive actions as void.
• Legislatures review the functioning of the executive.
• Executive appoints the judges.
• Legislative branch removes the judges. It can also alter the basis of the judgment while adhering to the constitutional limitation.

What are the various provisions in the constitution regarding the separation of powers?

Articles 122 and 212

• The courts cannot inquire the validity of the proceedings of the legislatures.

Article 50

• Article 50 puts an obligation over the state to separate the judiciary from the executive.

Articles 121 and 211

• The legislatures cannot discuss the conduct of a judge of the High Court or Supreme Court. They can do so only in matters of impeachment.

Article 361

• The President and Governors enjoy immunity from court proceedings.

What is the reason for the heightened deployment of forces by the government?

• India has a long border and, in order to effectively prevent cross border infiltration of terrorists, the Central Police Forces are also deployed.
• The thinning of border deployment has serious national security implications
• It is the fundamental job of the government of the day, and not the judiciary, to decide on the placement of police and armed forces to secure the nation’s borders and maintain law and order internally
• 61 officers of various Central police forces were martyred this year alone, emphasizing the need of forces in high alert theatres like the Valley, the North East and the Red Corridor States affected by naxal extremism

What may be the implications of the court’s decision?

• The Judiciary plays a very important role as a protector of the constitutional values that the founding fathers have given us.
• It is the exclusive domain of the Central government to decide on the most efficacious deployment of personnel and resources to quell pressing situations
• The Court could not assess the need for deployment of Central Police Forces in different States better the government
• The decision by the court overrides its jurisdiction and may prove another instance of judicial review through judicial activism.
• The role of the high court may criticized in some quarters as being violative of the doctrine of separation of powers
• Issuing directions in respect of various aspects of the country’s administration, transgresses into the domain of the executive and the legislature