Clearly, the Modi government is not showing the nerve to reform the judicial system in the country, the centrepiece of the nation’s well-being from multiple angles. The subject is passing through weak handling for the past over seven years of the Modi government after the Supreme Court blocked a legislation to start a National Judicial Appointments Commission. The idea behind the initiative taken at the fag end of the Manmohan-led UPA-II was to strengthen the judicial system in the country with intake of bright young legal practitioners to hold posts of judicial officers. Using the Supreme Court’s adverse stand as an excuse, the Modi government slept over the matter. Now, law minister Kiran Rijiju has stated in parliament during the just-ended winter session that the government is “trying to arrive at a consensus” in this respect – meaning drag and further drag on an important matter like this.
True, several high courts and some state governments including from Meghalaya had opposed the formation of the national judicial appointments commission along the lines of the civil services through a centralized authority. One argument cited was that the judges thus appointed by a central authority might not know the local language. The same, however, is applicable to civil services too, but those officials appointed in different states pick up the local language in a matter of a few months’ training. This solves the issue. The real resistance has more to do with other matters. A lot of alleged nepotism in appointment of judges by judges themselves, in collegium and other formats, and from high court to high court, is evident, vitiating the fair name of the judiciary in India.
Consensus will be a mirage, and more so when a government is not serious about a matter. This is an excuse to drag the matter and not bell the cat. This kind of a drag is evident in several aspects of the present governance system, other than in some matters that are pushed by the hardline Hindutva forces or the RSS keeping some national and security interests in mind. The rest of the governance system is in chaos and nothing changed for the better in recent years. It is well-acknowledged by now that the Manmohan Singh government had a better perspective about national development, an initiative that however got drowned in scams and huge corruption involving both the Congress top brass and regional satraps, who were part of the UPA arrangement. Time and tide wait for none. The government must end its vacillation. National interests demand as much.
