Date:31/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/31/stories/2008013160031200.htm

National

High Court has overstepped: Somnath

Staff Reporter

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court has overstepped its jurisdiction in ruling that the city’s book fair could not be held at the venue decided upon, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said here on Wednesday.

“It is unfortunate,” Mr. Chatterjee said at an interactive session organised by the Kolkata Press Club.

“Who decides what is [in] public interest? Elected representatives or those not accountable to the people?” he said, referring to the Public Interest Litigation petition that prompted the ruling by the court.

While the court had the right to determine the legality of issues and could engage in judicial review, there were doubts even among judges about the kind of judicial activism practised by courts, he said.