Judicial Muddle – Constitutional
Perspective
The on-going judicial muddle unleashed by the
unprecedented public out-cry of the four senior most judges of the Supreme
Court of India against the Chief Justice of India and his administration at the
Supreme Court is a matter of great concern and worry for the entire country.
The four senior most judges said that everything was not in order at the temple
of judiciary of the country. They warned that our democracy would be in danger,
if the things were not set right. The learned judges tended to place the matter
before the
people of India before it gets late. Obviously, this unexpected turn
of events jolted the whole edifice of the constitutional framework based on
principles of independence of judiciary, separation of powers among the three
pillars of the system that is Legislature, Executive and Judiciary and checks
and balances. There cannot be two opinions that the Supreme Court as a
watch-dog of the constitution shall be independent and steadfast to stand as
the last resort to see and ensure the country is run in letter and spirit as
per the constitutional and legal stipulations. I am not a constitutional or legal expert. The
manner in which the Government of PM Narendra Modi including the Law Minister
and the Attorney General, the legal community, the media and intelligentsia at
large has responded to the crisis has not only surprised me but has also
cajoled me to think, as a layman, as to what has gone wrong. I think we are
heading towards dangerous times for our democratic polity and constitutional
arrangements. I only wish that I am proved wrong. I will raise some questions
which need to be answered by the government of the day, legal fraternity, civil
society and we the people of India:
Add captionPress Conference of Supreme Cout Judges |
·
Is our constitution
silent on how to deal with such eventualities when there is some conflict or
tension in running the judiciary as per the laid down procedures, precedents,
practices, legal customs?
·
If yes, what
stops us from making such provisions? If not, why the esteemed judges, ignoring
these stipulations, had to go public with their complaints and grievances?
·
Why the government
has washed its hands off by saying that it is an internal matter of the
judiciary and will not interfere in the matter? Does the Executive have no role
in over-seeing that all the organs of the government work smoothly?
·
Why the Chief
Justice has not responded to the complaints and accusations of the senior four
judges? Is there no authority to ask and advise him to do so?
·
Why the legal
fraternity including the Attorney General of India and also the Bar Council
etc. are so helpless and blissfully ignorant as to how the crisis should be met
in terms of the constitutional and legal stipulations and practices? Will it be
correct to leave the matter to the Hon’ble Supreme Court and its judges?
·
Why the so called
vocal and free media and also the civil society is not coming forward to
educate the people of the country as to what has gone wrong and how it could be
set right.
These were some of the questions which come to my mind
in this regard. For the last two weeks, the entire judicial system is under strain
and stress. The only thing which comes to my mind, again I repeat as a layman,
is that all concerned are interested in putting the dirt under the carpet. The
entire gamut and thrust of the matter is that the learned judges were working
under outside pressure to
subvert the system as committed judiciary or compromised judiciary which they could not hold any longer. Not that the constitution is bad but because “man is vile” as assessed by Dr. Ambedkar himself. The government of the day cannot and should not keep quite. When the whole system is crumbling, why the matter has not been placed before the President of India who is not only the custodian of the constitution but also took the oath to reserve, defend and protect the constitution? President of India is an
subvert the system as committed judiciary or compromised judiciary which they could not hold any longer. Not that the constitution is bad but because “man is vile” as assessed by Dr. Ambedkar himself. The government of the day cannot and should not keep quite. When the whole system is crumbling, why the matter has not been placed before the President of India who is not only the custodian of the constitution but also took the oath to reserve, defend and protect the constitution? President of India is an
Without
Comment:-
“This is about an actor that has
managed to stay invisible through this crisis: the Modi government. This is,
above all, about the relationship between the judiciary and the executive.
Specifically, this is about an attempt by the government of the day to secure a
pliant judiciary through Bench fixing. In the run-up to the Emergency, Indira
Gandhi had demanded and, indeed, almost achieved a “committed judiciary”. The
Modi government now seeks to achieve the same objective through a compromised
judiciary. The protest by the four judges represents perhaps the last
significant hurdle that the Modi government faces in this project. And
judiciary is one of the last hurdles that it faces in its drive for total
control. That is why the current crisis in the apex court is about the future
of Indian democracy.”
Yogendra Yadav’s article “More than meets the eye” in The Tribune of
January 17, 2018
supreme clothing
ReplyDeletehermes handbags
kyrie 6
balenciaga shoes
yeezy boost 350 v2
kevin durant shoes
moncler
golden goose
kyrie 5
adidas yeezy