The recent allegation of sexual harassment against Chief Justice of India (CJI) is an unprecedented event in Indian judiciary. Judiciary has always been the most trustable democratic institution of India and unaffected by political paradigm. But, in recent years, the judiciary has faced many questions regarding its credibility and independence which has created suspicion among the minds of people. Let’s talk about these issues.
We can start with the National Judicial Appointment Commission Act (NJAC) of parliament which was nullified by Supreme Court brutally. NJAC act was a constitutional amendment bill which sought to replace the present collegium system of the judiciary by the institutional and transparent mechanism to appoint judges. This nullification created a roar in public domain regarding the opaque and undemocratic nature of judicial appointments where only a few senior judges have the discretion to appoint judges without significant involvement of govt. It was probably the first time when corruption and nepotism seemed to exist in the judiciary which moved it from its roots.
Another issue is the pending cases and vacancies in higher judiciary. At present, about 3 crores cases are pending in Indian courts due to paucity of judges and benches. Recent years witnessed friction between government and judiciary over delay in appointments. Ex CJI, Deepak Misra literally got tears in front of the prime minister with a request to expedite the appointments from the government’s side in public. Such a fight among two organs of democracy was not a good sign.
Judiciary suffered erosion of its credibility again when Ex CJI Deepak Misra constituted the bench to hear a case which he was allegedly involved in thus acting as “judge in his own case”. The question was raised about the discretion of CJI to constitute the benches for hearings. At that time, the court reiterates the “master of roaster” principle and validated CJI’s discretion. Such unlimited discretion and power to one authority again indicated the authoritarian nature of the judiciary. Regarding this, for the first time in history, four senior-most judges held a press conference and showed their concern about the credibility of Indian judiciary.
The recent allegations against the highest judicial office of a country is a serious concern and need to be resolved soon. Allegations may also be a political ploy to control judiciary if we notice its timing and the fact that CJI is going to hear some important cases in the near future. India has seen the CJIs of impeccable integrity till now and such case may be an outlier to such record.
Such cases opened the door for discussion about the concealed realities of the judiciary. Has Indian democracy not been able to preserve the sanctity of even judiciary? It is difficult to answer because, today, the judiciary is the only institution which has dared to challenge any unconstitutional menace of country. It has been the body which gave progressive judgments regarding section 377 and 497 of IPC which no government had dared to even talk about.
But, the recent jolts to the judiciary has raised a requirement to take some reforms to ensure its democratic functioning. A codified set of rules should be enacted for transparent judicial appointment mechanism, an expedition of pending cases, fixation of responsibilities of CJI and smooth interaction between judiciary and government with the consensus of both parties. Trust in the judicial system is prerequisite for any democracy to sustain. So, the judiciary must retain its charm because its dismantling can cause the greatest damage to India.