Sovereignty is not absolute: SC Judge

CHENNAI: ‘Sovereignty’ having an attribution and characteristic of ‘absolute power in absolute sense’ remains an outdated and obscure concept in the contemporary civilisation, Justice HL Dattu, Supreme Court of India, said here on Saturday. He was here to present R Venkataraman Labour Law Lecture Endowment Series.Speaking on Development in the Law of Sovereign Immunity, the Justice walked the audience through its doctrine and its implications on basic human rights on Judicial Approach.Referring to his remark on sovereignty, Dattu said “Such a statement no where postulates that the State as an entity has lost its relevance and had importance in the process of governance. Rather, it still remains the fundamental actor in the modern governance”. “Having written down a fundamental document for governance, ‘We the People are the real source of that ultimate power that is sovereign”, the Justice observed.“The sovereignty resides with the people and each government should honour its obligations to its citizens. The rationale that sovereign governments were entitled to the privileges afforded to English monarchs, and it was logically impossible to enforce a judgment against the government itself- are having no basis in the constitutional scheme of India”, Dattu said. He also said that the Supreme Court played a seminal role in the development of law in this aspect.Earlier, Madras HC Chief Justice MY Eqbal recalled the incident of the tribal women being detained and alleged molestations by the cops in Thirukovilur. He wondered on as whether the police personnel has got any Sovereign Immunity.