Never seen any RS chairperson make such political comments: Sibal on Dhakhar's judiciary remarks

Kapil Sibal criticizes Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar for questioning judiciary's timeline, calling it unconstitutional and undermining judicial independence.

Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal slammed Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday (April 18, 2025) for questioning the judiciary over the timeline for the President to take decisions, saying this is "unconstitutional" and he had never seen any Rajya Sabha chairman make "political statements" of this nature.

A day after the Vice President used strong words against the judiciary, Mr. Sibal asserted that the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman remain equidistant between the Opposition and the ruling party, and cannot be the "spokesperson of the party".

"Everyone knows that the Lok Sabha Speaker's chair is in between. He or she is the Speaker of the House, not the speaker of one party. They also don't vote, they only vote when there is a tie. The same is with the Upper House. You are equidistant between the Opposition and the ruling party," the senior advocate said at a press conference in New Delhi.

"Everything you say must be equidistant. No speaker can be the spokesperson of a party. I don't say that he (Dhankhar) is but no Speaker in principle can be the spokesperson of any party. If it appears so then the dignity of the chair is lowered," Mr. Sibal asserted.

Mr. Dhankhar on Thursday questioned the judiciary setting a timeline for the President to take decisions and act as a "super Parliament", saying the Supreme Court cannot fire a "nuclear missile" at democratic forces.

Mr. Dhankhar's strong words to the judiciary came during his speech to Rajya Sabha interns, days after the Supreme Court sought to fix a timeline for the President to grant assent to the bills reserved for her consideration by the governor.

"So, we have judges who will legislate, who will perform executive functions, who will act as super Parliament and absolutely have no accountability because the law of the land does not apply to them," Mr. Dhankhar said.