Elite behaviour is challenge to supremacy of law: Ansari

New Delhi, Nov 22 : The supremacy of law faces a challenge of elite behaviour as media reports tell how elite are able to subvert law with money or influence, Vice President Hamid Ansari said Sunday.

"The challenge to the supremacy of rule of law is elite behaviour. National and international media is full of reports of how the elite are able to subvert the rule of law with money or influence. A large swathe of society and polity even accept this situation as a way of life," a concerned Ansari said.

He was delivering valedictory address at the International Conference of Jurists - 2009 here.

"While the normative elements of legal and political systems seek to establish the rule of law, the reality of systemic discrimination and exclusion based on community, gender, class and other limiting and distorting considerations is compelling," he added.

Ansari called corruption an ailment that is pervasive, cancerous and multi-dimensional.

"In moral terms, it (corruption) corrodes the social and political fabric of society and increases injustice; in its legal implications, it results in disregard for the rule of law; in its developmental aspect, it tends to distort the decision-making processes and is wasteful of resources," he noted in his speech.

Corruption, he said, "shakes the legitimacy of the state, erodes sovereignty of the state and its capacity to exercise sovereign functions including ensuring law and order for the citizens."

He said corruption was a "significant threat to national security".