Mumbai:
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh issued a word of caution that the power of judicial review should not undermine the role of the other branches of government.
"While the power of judicial review must be used to enforce accountability, it must never be used to erode the legitimate role assigned to the other branches of government," the Prime Minister said while addressing a Law Conference in Hyderabad on Sunday.
But that didn't stop a sitting judge of the Supreme Court from criticising the government for retaining Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in the Cabinet.
"The former Maharashtra Chief Minister is still a minister. He is looking after Rural Development... continues in equal glory. We cannot pull him down from that," Judge A K Ganguly said.
Ganguly had, in December 2010, held Vilasrao Deshmukh guilty of using his influence to stop the police from registering a case against a private moneylender.
However, the Congress is tight-lipped about it despite it being widely reported.
"Don't know anything about it," Congress spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi said.
Top lawyers are, however, a bit wary of such criticism outside the court.
"Ganguly did step out of the crease, but I can understand his sentiment and the occasion for saying it," said Soli Sorabjee, a Constitutional expert.
"They can deal with them through their judgements. But these individual specific issues ought not to be brought on the public platform," said K T S Tulsi, Senior Counsel, Supreme Court.
Vilasrao Deshmukh has stayed away from the spotlight, refusing to comment. But the rebuke could not have come at a worse time as the shadow of the Adarsh Scam is still haunting him.
This incident can add pressure on the battery of corruption charges the Congress already faces.