Lawyers divided over Supreme Court verdict

Mumbai: The legal fraternity had a mixed reaction regarding the Supreme Court order on the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. While appreciating the SC’s move to stop the misuse and abuse of the law, the senior lawyers said that there has to be some mechanism to implement the same by the government and it should not be done at the behest of the judiciary.

Welcoming the SC order, senior advocate Sujay Kantawala said, “In the present case all sides were heard and the landmark ruling is well balanced and has taken note of the rampant misuse of the law. The protests are for optics and are of no consequence.”

Senior advocate Satish Talekar without getting into the merits of the SC order said that the recent judgment is a classic example of judicial overreach inasmuch as the Supreme Court has acted as a “super legislature”.

Advocate Mathews Nedumpara concurred with Talekar and did not mince words while criticising the SC order. “The SC was hearing an individual case and hence issuing guidelines on the implementation or enforcement of the entire Act was uncalled for,” he said.