Judging the judges...

The Judges (Inquiry) Bill, which has been introduced in the Lok Sabha, is a landmark bill, and will definitely cause some serious changes, should it get passed. The bill aims to deal with the problem of the lack of a suitable resolution mechanism vis-à-vis complaints of misbehaviour of Supreme Court and High Court judges.

Till date, the judiciary has remained beyond such introspection, as the incidence of such acts itself was very low, and hence actually setting up a mechanism to deal with them was deemed a time-consuming, and ultimately redundant process, which could best be avoided. But now the amount of complaints that have arisen against judges alleging their complicity and at times a biased outlook calls for some serious re-evaluation of the system itself.

One must not fear that this system could be the precursor to a systematic politicisation of the judiciary. If anything, this reinforces the principle that most of the wings of the State practice, that an organisation is best suited to deal with the misdeeds of its members. The Civil Services have their Administrative Tribunals, the Armed Forces their military tribunals, so why not the judiciary have its own tribunal to deal with those who deviate from its codes of conduct?

I have, in all my preceding blogs, been a fierce proponent of a strong judiciary. But, I do not find this decision of the Union Cabinet to be harming the strength of the judiciary in any way. On the contrary, it will improve the accountability of the judiciary and prevent the misuse of the powers and privileges vested in the judges by the Constitution. This becomes a most remarkable concept, because then truly no one is above the law in India, not even those who are to judge by the basis of these laws.

That this bill’s tabling comes so soon after the Supreme Court of India has suggested the inapplicability of constitutional protections accorded to members of Parliament, ministers and bureaucrats, especially in cases wherein the individual concerned is alleged to have broken the law, as also within a day of the Union Law Minister’s defence of the judiciary’s power of review, as also his repudiation of charges of judicial activism is also significant, because it firmly establishes that while the judiciary is critical of the protections which have been misused by guilty politicians, it is open to reform within its own house. It would have been unfortunate had the judiciary chosen to oppose this move, but that they have chosen to support it is a sign of their maturity and of their willingness to subject themselves to scrutiny. Whether this maturity lasts, and whether this scrutiny works to the advantage of the nation, only history will tell.