Why do you want us to enact a law, SC asks govt

A day after the Centre clarified its stand on  homosexuality, the Supreme Court on Thursday wondered as to why the government has not amended Section 377 of IPC to decriminalise same sex relationship between.

During the inconclusive hearing, a bench of Justice GS Singhvi and Justice SJ Mukhopadhay termed the proceedings emanating from a Delhi High Court ruling three years ago as “unusual and unprecedented” saying it is for the time that the government wants the court to “perform the duty of legislature”.

“This is an interesting case in which the executive wants the judiciary to enact a law”, the top court added.

“Executive wants the court to perform the duty of legislature”, judges said while counsel for the national child rights commission Amarendera Sharan urged them not to taken upon it the government’s job. He said the political executive is ‘scared’ of taking an initiative in this regard as its fearful of the public reaction to “this kind of law”.

A former additional solicitor general Sharan argued that the separation of powers doctrine is the basic feature of the Constitution that provides legislature to enact a law and the judiciary to interpret it. He said the government can’t ask the court to declare a particular action or act as legal or an offence.

While adjourning the hearing till Monday, judges said they have been saying since the beginning of the hearing that the job which the executive ought to have performed has been left for the court to do.