Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar has zeroed in, boldly, on a subject of prime importance to the nation, namely the need to preserve the sovereignty of the parliament – which reflects the will of the nation. He spoke of how the judiciary thwarted a parliament decision to set up a National Judicial Appointments Commission to replace the controversial Collegium System for selection of judges. The matter has been hanging fire since the start of the Narendra Modi terms. The bill passed in this respect turned into law in 2015 but the Supreme Court shot it down the same year and, with equal vehemence, it rejected an appeal in 2018.
The argument in support of the apex court decision was a former judgment of the same court in the 1973 Kesava Bharati case — that the basic tenets of the Constitution should not be violated. A previous court order by itself cannot be a valid ground for perpetuation of the collegium system that is seen also as an instrument to indulge in nepotism in judicial appointments. There are living examples of perpetuation of dynasty whims in India’s judiciary, which puts the entire system in the shadow of suspicion. The respect of a nation rests largely on the strengths of its judicial systems – principally the transparency with which it functions and its seriousness in upholding what is just by ensuring that ‘truth prevails’ as is enshrined in the dictum, Satyameva Jayate. The Indian judicial system, regrettably, has its share of bad apples. Dignity in conduct is of utmost importance for those manning the judicial system. It must be hailed that several judges at various levels are conducting themselves in a highly dignified manner. At the same time, we have also witnessed situations of loose talks by judges, exposes of judicial corruption as in the infamous “crores for bail” scam and of Supreme Court judges having been accused of sexual misconduct. The society is changing and every institution is facing such situations of moral degradation. It is important that the government takes corrective steps.
The move to have a system to induct the best brains in the judicial system through a national recruitment process was well-conceived. But, when it comes to the crunch, there’s a deficit in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s level of assertions. While the apex court passed adverse orders vis-à-vis the national judicial appointments commission, the government opted to sit back and cool its heels rather than going ahead with the next step to demonstrate the nation’s resolve. Four years have passed after the apex court rejected the appeal, and the Modi government took no further steps to take the matter forward.