Senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal speaks to the media on Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar’s statement on the Supreme Court, in New Delhi on Friday.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Neither Parliament nor the Executive but the Constitution is Supreme, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal said on Tuesday (April 22, 2025), as he hit back at Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar who slammed his critics for questioning his remarks on a recent Supreme Court order.

Mr. Sibal also claimed that everything the Court said was consistent with the Country’s Constitutional values and guided by national interest.

Mr. Sibal’s remarks in posts on X came soon after Mr. Dhankhar said that every word spoken by a Constitutional authority was guided by supreme national interest.

A Supreme Court bench recently prescribed a three-month timeline for the President of India to decide on Bills reserved by Governors for her nod. Reacting to the directive, Mr. Dhankhar said the judiciary cannot play the role of a “super Parliament” and get into the domain of the executive.

In a post on X, Mr. Sibal said, “Supreme Court: Parliament has the plenary power to pass laws. Supreme Court has the obligation to interpret the Constitution and do complete justice [Article 142]…. Everything the Court said is: Consistent with our constitutional values; guided by national interest,” the Independent Rajya Sabha MP and former Congress leader said.

In another post, Mr. Sibal said, “The law: Neither Parliament nor the Executive is supreme, the Constitution is supreme. The provisions of the Constitution are interpreted by the Supreme Court. That’s how this country has understood the law so far!” Mr. Sibal had slammed Mr. Dhankhar last Friday (April 18) for questioning the Judiciary over the timeline set for the President to take decisions, saying it was “unconstitutional” and that never saw any Rajya Sabha Chairman make “political statements” of such nature.

A day after Mr. Dhankhar 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 one 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 in case of a tie. The same is with the Upper House. You are equidistant between the opposition and the ruling party,” the senior advocate said.

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

Mr. Dhankhar last Thursday (April 17) 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.