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Role of Amicus Curiae needs to be demarcated by Court: SG Tushar Mehta to Supreme Court

Dated: March 17, 2021

                                                                                                                                                          - By Megha Bhatia

In a speech to the Supreme Court’s Bench chaired by Justice NV Ramana on March 15th, 2021 Solicitor General Tushar Mehta urged the Court to draw lines through which an Amicus Curiae would assist the Court.

“I request Your Lordships to demarcate lines up to which the Court can be assisted by Amicus. I’ll move an application. We’ve been seeing this for decades,” SG Mehta submitted. 

He further added, “I’m not imputing motives on any Individual. But role & ambit of their assistance needs to be decided by Court. They cannot be running the government.”

These comments were made by SG Mehta during his representations to the Supreme Court in a PIL about the killings in false encounters by police officers and staff in uniform of the Union armed forces.

With regards to the issue of discharge of an officer from SIT probing the alleged extra judicial killings, SG Mehta said, “On these issues, the Amicus can have nothing to say.” “This is happening in every matter. They can assist on question of law and nothing else. It's happening in other cases,” Mehta said.

“They’ve been appointed by the Court,” the Bench said. 

“They are for purpose of assisting when assistance is required. They cannot run CBI’s administration. I am a little blunt, but deliberately blunt. Your Lordships can, they can’t,” SG Mehta submitted. “They can assist on question of law, and they have assisted substantially,” he added.

SG Mehta went on to say that the Amicus can’t run CBI and that their position should be defined. SG Mehta also stated, “This is not in this matter, this is happening every day in every matter with everyone. The amicus is a concept where your lordships needs some assistance on proposition of laws, when there are divergent views. They are not supposed to be telling that you shouldn’t do this or that.”

The Bench instructed SG Mehta to save this argument for his closing arguments.

“You are a senior counsel and Solicitor General of India. We know, the Amicus also knows what extent they can make submissions. Don’t bring other things to this present day matter. Tell us who will you replace the officer with,” the Bench observed. 

SG Mehta stated that his remarks were generic in nature and had nothing to do with Senior Advocate Maneka Guruswamy, the amicus curiae in this case. 

“What’s the interest of Amicus. They’ve been appointed by the Court,” the Bench asked. 

“I’m not imputing motives on any Individual. But role & ambit of their assistance needs to be decided by Court. They cannot run the govt. Please demarcate the line by which your Lordships can be assisted by amicus. We are seeing this since decades. We can file an application. It’s not for the Amicus Curiae...in general I am not imputing motives to any individual. They cannot be running the law,” Mehta persisted with his argument. 

The bench was considering a plea from Senior Superintendent of Police Mahes Bhardwaj to be released from the SIT in the NHRC formed to look into suspected fake encounters in Manipur. 

A three-judge bench headed by Justice Ramana granted the officer’s request to be discharged to his parent department and assigned to his elevated post, and ordered the Centre to quickly provide a suitable officer to the NHRC. 

On the other hand, the court did not issue any directives in response to the SG’s appeal, instead they stated that they would accept it at a later time.