Need accountability along with judicial independence
Exactly five years after the Supreme Court struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, the judiciary finds itself in turmoil yet again with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy levelling allegations of judicial impropriety against a serving Supreme Court judge, along with the Chief Justice and some judges of the High Court.
This is not the first time allegations of a serious nature have been made against the judiciary, both by those within and outside it, nor will it be the last. Yet, the whole debate is being steered from the perspective of judicial independence alone, questioning Jagan’s move to make his letter to the Chief Justice of India public.
But if we look beyond this, what is undeniable is that reforms are more than due in the judiciary. The reason being the growing perception that the three pillars of democracy—legislature, executive and judiciary—as also the fourth estate, are becoming increasingly partisan. For instance, some media organisations have chosen not even to make a brief mention of the letter, written by one constitutional functionary (CM) to the other (CJI), lending credence to accusations of bias.
In this environment, people still rely on the judiciary to rectify unconstitutional deeds in the other institutions. But there will be nothing to look up to if the judiciary itself succumbs to the same weaknesses. Its credibility depends solely on the soundness of its judgements. Orders such as gagging the media and prohibiting the government of the day from reviewing decisions of its predecessor almost in toto delivered by the AP High Court are shocking.
We do agree that undesirable slander and vilification of judges cannot and should not be allowed. At the same time, it cannot also be said that complaints should not be made against a judge. The current as well as past episodes only reinforce the urgent need to bring about accountability while protecting the independence of the judiciary. The latter is unsustainable without the former. Revisit the NJAC with transparency and accountability as the barometer and judicial independence the uncompromising objective.