Parties Don't Send Their Best Talents To Parliament: Ex-Top Court Judge

Justice Patnaik, who retired as a Supreme Court judge in 2014, said he has been listening to the debates in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and have been reading about them in newspapers.

Former Supreme Court judge A K Patnaik on Saturday said political parties do not send their best talents to Parliament due a variety of reasons, including a lack of internal democracy in their functioning. Speaking at an event, he said lack of funds to contest elections without the support of a political party has discouraged many capable and meritorious persons from seeking an opportunity for election to Parliament. Justice Patnaik, who retired as a Supreme Court judge in 2014, said he has been listening to the debates in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and have been reading about them in newspapers. "I appreciate the quality of debates on the national issues and some of the criticisms that the opposition members make in Parliament. For such debates and criticisms, parliamentarians need to be rewarded," he said.