SC: Validity of parliamentary committee reports can't be challenged
What's the story
Hearing an issue on the reliability of parliamentary committee reports, a Constitution bench of the Supreme Court ruled that the validity of Parliamentary Standing Committee reports cannot be challenged or questioned in court.
It added that courts could rely on such reports for evidence, and this would not violate the privileges of Members of Parliament (MPs).
Here's more.
Details
Details of the hearing
The bench, comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, had, in 2017, reserved its judgement on whether such reports could be used as evidence in court without violating the privileges of MPs.
During the hearing, CJI Dipak Misra said that a delicate balance needed to be struck when using contents of such reports.
The case
The context of the Supreme Court judgement
The hearing pertained to a petition regarding cancer drug trials on tribals.
The petitioner, Kalpana Mehta, had cited a parliamentary committee report as supportive evidence in her case where she sought to cancel licenses of two vaccines for cervical cancer which had been tested on tribal women in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
Implications
The Supreme Court ruling is expected to help NGOs, activists
The Supreme Court ruling, the first such in India, is expected to benefit NGOs and activists who frequently file public interest litigations (PILs) in the Supreme Court seeking relief for distressed people under different welfare schemes.
The ruling allows such NGOs and activists to make use of Parliamentary Standing Committee reports which are often critical of the government.