New Delhi: Days after the Supreme Court set a deadline for the President to decide on bills referred by governors of states, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday (April 17) lashed out at the top court, calling Article 142 – which gives powers to the apex court – a “nuclear missile against democratic forces” and said that there cannot be a situation where the President of India is given directions by the judiciary. In a sharp reaction to the Supreme Court order delivered earlier this month, Dhankhar said that judges are acting as “super parliament” and have no accountability “because the law of the land does not apply to them.”Dhankhar’s remarks on Thursday comes weeks after he made critical remarks against the judiciary during the recent budget session of parliament after the alleged discovery of a large amount of cash from a room damaged by fire at Delhi high court Justice Yashwant Varma’s official residence. Dhankhar said that there is no provision of judicial review of a constitutional amendment while referring to the NJAC (National Judicial Appointments Commission) Act which was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.“We cannot have a situation where you direct the President of India. And on what basis? The only right you have under the Constitution is to interpret the Constitution under Article 145(3),” he said while addressing the sixth batch of Rajya Sabha interns at the Vice President’s enclave on Thursday.“There it has to be five judges or more. 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 and odd. But forget about it, the judges who issued a mandamus virtually to the President and presented a scenario it will be law of the land, have forgotten the power of the Constitution.”“How can that combination of judges deal with something under Article 145(3) if preserved it was then for five out of eight. We need to make amends in that also now. Five out of eight would mean interpretation will be by majority. Well, five constitutes more than majority in eight. But leave that aside. Article 142 has become a nuclear missile against Democratic forces, available to judiciary 24×7,” said Dhankhar.Earlier this month in a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court declared the Tamil Nadu governor R.N. Ravi’s actions to stall the DMK government’s bills were “erroneous and illegal” and held that no governor has the power to indefinitely override decisions made by the legislature that have an elected mandate and are directly accountable to people. Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan in their 414-page order also gave timelines for the governors to comply and said that the governor is expected to take action within one month, and in the case of withholding of assent contrary to the advice of the state council of ministers, the governor must return the bill together with a message within a maximum period of three months. It also said that in the case of reservation of bills for the consideration of the President contrary to the advice of the state council of ministers, the governor shall make such reservation within a maximum period of three months.The order also held that the President does not have the power of a ‘pocket veto’ or ‘absolute veto’ under Article 201 as in the case, some of the bills were withheld by the President after being referred to by governor Ravi. The judgement comes in the wake of governors in several non-BJP ruled states not disposing of Bills passed by the respective state legislatures as provided in Article 200 of the Constitution.While the BJP government is yet to give a statement on the Supreme Court order, the Ministry of Home Affairs is likely to file a review petition, The Hindu has reported. In his speech, Dhankhar also said that judges have become “super parliament” with “no accountability”.“There is a directive to the President by a recent judgement. Where are we heading? What is happening in the country? We have to be extremely sensitive. It is not a question of someone filing a review or not,” he said.“We never bargained for democracy for this day. President being called upon to decide in a time bound manner and if not becomes law. So we have judges who will legislate, 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.”Prior to becoming the vice president, Dhankhar had acquired infamy as West Bengal governor due to his prolonged confrontation with the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government in the state. Dhankhar as governor had routinely targeted the state government and the TMC on issues ranging from allegations of corruption, political violence and politicisation of the administration and academic institutions to an alleged undemocratic attitude. The Trinamool Congress (TMC), in response, repeatedly branded Dhankhar as the ‘real leader of the opposition’.Dhankhar’s remarks on Thursday come as the Supreme Court was hearing petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the contentious Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025. The top court granted the Union government seven days to file its response to the request of stay on the amended provisions of the act provided non-Muslims are not appointed to Waqf Boards and the Central Waqf Council. Earlier during Wednesday’s hearing, solicitor general Tushar Mehta drew a sharp response from CJI Sanjiv Khanna. The court asked if the Union government was willing to allow Muslims to be on Hindu endowment boards the way it is seeking non-Muslim members on Waqf Boards. Mehta said that if the objection to the presence of non-Muslims in the statutory board is accepted, then the present Bench also would not be able to hear the matter, LiveLaw reported.“No, sorry Mr. Mehta we are not talking just about adjudication. When we sit over here, we lose our religion, we are absolutely secular,” CJI Khanna was quoted as saying by LiveLaw.“For us, one side or the other side is the same. But then, when we are dealing with a Council looking after the religious affairs, issues may arise. Let’s say, in a Hindu temple tomorrow, a receiver is to be appointed or there is an endowment trust… all of them have Hindu are members of that Governing Board… How are you comparing it with judges, saying judges should be from different communities or background.”Dhankhar’s strong criticism of the judiciary also comes weeks after he made two references to the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act in parliament, calling it a “historic development”. He also said that there is no provision of judicial review of a constitutional amendment after raising the alleged discovery of cash at Justice Verma’s residence. Dhankhar questioned the delay in acting against Verma after a month.“It is now over a month, even if it is a can of worms, even if there are skeletons in the cupboard, it is time to blow up the can. Time for that cupboard to collapse. Let the worms and skeletons be in public domain so that cleansing takes place,” he said.