New Delhi: The burden of courts increases when several contempt petitions come before it due to non-implementation of court decisions by the governments, CJI NV Ramana said at the inauguration of 11th Joint Conference of the Chief Ministers and Chief Justices on Saturday.
“The contempt petitions are a direct result of the defiance by the Governments. Deliberate inactions by the Governments, despite judicial pronouncements, are not good for the health of democracy. The judiciary is also confronted with the issue of the executive willingly transferring the burden of decision making to it.” He opined.
He emphasised the fact that policymaking is not judiciary’s domain, but, if a citizen comes to the court with a prayer to address his grievance, the courts cannot say no, and at times, ambiguities in legislations also add to existing legal issues.
“If the legislature passes a law, with clarity of thought, foresight and with people’s welfare in mind, the scope for litigation gets minimized.” He said.
He elaborated that the legislature is expected to solicit the views of the public and debate the bills, clause by clause, threadbare, before enacting a law.
CJI said that when he had expressed concern about the passing of laws without much legislative scrutiny, some quarters had misunderstood his concern on August 15, 2021 and added that let there no doubt about his highest regard for the legislature and the elected representatives.