'Court Has Hit Sovereignty of Parliament': Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Judges' Appointment Verdict

Is the government headed for a full-blown showdown with the judiciary over its verdict on judicial appointments? After Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, another union minister has taken on the Supreme Court for saying that judges alone will appoint other judges. Speaking to NDTV, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who was Law Minister when a legislation was passed to give the government a say in the appointment of judges, said the top court's verdict has hit the sovereignty of Parliament. Mr Prasad said that the court should not forget that its judgment during the Emergency years was shameful, adding that it was the political class who was left to fight it. Going a step further, the minister also said that the quality of judicial scholarship had declined after 1993, the year from which the collegium system of appointing judges kicked in.