New Delhi: Chief Justice R.M. Lodha on Saturday said that the independence of the judiciary is not negotiable and any attempt to tinker with it will not succeed, adding that to strengthen the rule of law the judiciary will have to ensure that it was completely corruption-free.
He made these observations at the Rule of Law Convention, 2014 organised by the Bar Association of India in the national capital here.
Justice Lodha said: “The independence of the judiciary is not negotiable. I can say with confidence that judicial independence has come to stay and no effort will succeed in taking it away.”
“By and large, people understand that judicial independence is something which cannot be touched,” said Chief Justice Lodha in his inaugural address.
“When economy grows, industry grows and also grows corruption. It is very, very important that judiciary is corruption free… it is a worst form of ailment for a thriving democracy,” he said while exhorting the legal fraternity to guard against any attempt to corrupt the judiciary.
The chief justice said that “judicial independence gives confidence to the people that there is an independent judiciary that will come to their rescue if any wrong is done to them by the executive or others.”
He said that the appointment of judges for the higher judiciary should be in a transparent manner.
He referred to the discussions he had with the heads of the legal system in Britain about the working of the Judicial Appointments Commission which is headed by a person of non-judicial background.
Chief Justice Lodha said that despite some initial difficulties, the system, introduced in Britain five years back, was working and he was told that there was no decline in the quality of judges.
They (British) said that there was no change in the quality of judges and (they) said that “they have achieved transparency (in the appointment of judges at all levels) and that is important.” (IANS)