What is Article 142? Indian VP calls it 'a nuclear missile' against democracy | WION Explains

The Indian Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar raised questions on the Supreme Court's direction for setting a timeline for the president to take action on any bill. He called Article 142 of the Indian Constitution a "nuclear missile" in the hands of the judiciary. 

"Article 142 has become a nuclear missile against Democratic forces available to the judiciary 24x7," Dhankar said on the social media platform X on Thursday (April 17). 

"We cannot have a situation where you direct the President of India, and on what basis?" he asked.

"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," Dhankhar said during his speech to the  Rajya Sabha.

"The only right you have under the Constitution is to interpret the Constitution under Article 145(3). There, it has to be five judges when Article 145(3) was there, the number of judges in the Supreme Court was eight, 5 out of 8, now 5 out of 30 odd more," the VP wrote in his X post. 

"What is happening in the country? We have to be extremely sensitive. It is not a question of someone filing a review or not. We never bargained for democracy on this day. President being called upon to decide in a time-bound manner, and if not, it becomes law," Dhankhar said. 

Article 142 of the Indian Constitution grants immense power to the apex court to ensure complete justice in any case before it. 

"The Supreme Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction may pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it..." the article narrates. 

Article 142 of the Indian Constitution allows the SC to take action that may not be strictly within the bounds of the existing law as long as it ensures complete justice in the case. 

Any order that gets passed under Article 142 is enforceable throughout India and is binding on all courts and authorities.

Dhankar also talked about the incident of cash which was allegedly found in the residence of a sitting Delhi high court judge, Justice Yashwant Varma.  

"An event happened on the night of 14th and 15th of March in New Delhi, at the residence of a judge. For seven days, no one knew about it. We have to ask questions to ourselves. Is the delay explainable? Condonable? Does it not raise certain fundamental questions? In any ordinary situation, and ordinary situations define the rule of law — things would have been different,” the VP said.