Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana on Wednesday asserted that the judiciary needed “complete freedom” from any extraneous influence to be “able to apply checks on governmental power and action” and enforce the rule of law.
“For the judiciary to apply checks on governmental power and action, it has to have complete freedom. The judiciary cannot be controlled, directly or indirectly, by the legislature or the executive, or else the rule of law would become illusory,” Justice Ramana said while delivering the 17th Justice P.D. Desai Memorial Lecture in New Delhi on Wednesday evening.
Advertisement
The CJI said: “At the same time, judges should not be swayed by the emotional pitch of public opinion either, which is getting amplified through social media platforms. Judges have to be mindful of the fact that the noise thus amplified is not necessarily reflective of what is right and what majority believes in.”
The Supreme Court collegium in India, which is the determinative authority for appointment of judges to the higher judiciary, began publishing its resolutions on the Supreme Court website in October 2017, purportedly to foster transparency. A study of all the published resolutions over a period of two years from 2017 to 2019 reveals that the collegium systematically failed to
CJI S.A. Bobde s Legacy: Two Orders That Could Reduce Pendency in HCs
By fixing timelines for each stage in the process of appointing HC judges, and by activating a dormant provision of the Constitution (Article 224A), the SC has sought to fix responsibility for undue delays on the respective stakeholders.Â
CJI Bobde and the Supreme Court. Photos: PTI
Law5 hours ago
New Delhi: The outgoing Chief Justice of India, S.A. Bobde, who is retiring on April 23, delivered two orders on Tuesday, as part of the bench presided by him, which can help to reduce pendency of cases in the high courts.
As CJI, Justice Ramana Needs to Act Like Former Election Commissioner T.N. Seshan
History will not be kind to the Indian judicial leadership of recent years, for it has undermined public trust in the institution. Ramana has his task cut out to restore the lost public faith in the judiciary.
T.N. Seshan, Supreme Court of India and Justice N.V. Ramana. Photos: Rishabh Tatiraju (CC BY-SA 3.0)/The Wire
Law11 hours ago
On Tuesday, the President of India named Justice N.V. Ramana as the next chief justice of India. He will take up office on April 24. His appointment comes at a time when it is clear that the judiciary is in the throes of extreme confusion over its role as mandated by Article 32