Tribune News Service
New Delhi, Jun 19
Describing independence as the soul of judiciary, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi has said it should stand up to populist forces and protect constitutional ethos.
Addressing a conference of chief justices at Shanghai Cooperation Organisation at Sochi in Russia on Tuesday, the CJI independence of judiciary was not a one-time pill but a 'state of affairs' that has to remain constant to defend the system from the forces that were disturbing such “state”.
He, however, clarified that independence of judiciary as an institution was different from independence of judges as the fountainheads of justice.
Besides CJI Gogoi, justices NV Ramana, DY Chandrachud and MR Shah also attended the conference.
“Proponents who call for a strong and independent judiciary would assert that in the absence of institutional independence of judiciary, independent functioning of Judges cannot be assured and similarly, without strong and independent Judges, the 'institutional independence' of the 'judiciary' would be a misnomer and futile,” the CJI said.
He said non-political appointments, security of tenure and rigorous procedure for removal, securing the reputation of and remuneration and immunities for the judges, in-house accountability procedures, and implementation of code of judges' conduct were some of the measures that can secure the independence of judiciary.
"In some phases in the journey of a nation, when the legislative and executive wings get swept away from their duties and goals under the Constitution by waves of populism, it is for the judiciary to rise and stand up to the populist forces and protect the Constitutional ethos from being desecrated by the populists. To some critics and naysayers, this situation presents a case for hoisting the classical counter narrative—unelected judges, acting under the Constitutional mandate, get to overturn the acts of the elected majority,” he said.
"However, it is for us to recollect that such situations across the world have heaped tremendous pressure on the judicial organs, and it is no surprise that in some jurisdictions Judiciary too has succumbed to populist forces. This is also an area that requires Judiciary to prepare itself, to strengthen itself about such populist onslaughts on the independence of the Institution.
"The human agency, through which justice is sought to be administered, has to be adequately secured and fortified in ordinary times, so that it is sufficiently equipped to deal with such forces of populism in extraordinary times, lest they overrun the judicial edifice too. This would be our strongest case for strengthening the independence of judiciary," the CJI said.
Gogoi said that independence is the soul of a judiciary and if it fails to enjoy public confidence, its deliverables would never constitute 'justice'.
"Whatever be the political system of governance, people across nations aspire for a free and independent judicial system to serve them. In fact, such aspirations are common to, and bind different judicial systems across the comity of nations. If a judicial system fails to enjoy public confidence, its deliverables would never constitute 'justice' – conversely, if the deliverables of a judicial system are not known to be impartial, just, equitable, and appealing to good conscience, such system would never earn public confidence and high esteem in the minds and hearts of the common citizens," he said.