Joseph says independence of judiciary needs to be protected like the ‘chastity of a virgin’. Minister Jaitley says judges are being bullied via social media.
Justice Kurian Joseph (retd) says both major fronts in Kerala, LDF and UDF, had approached him, but he said no because he doesn't have political ambitions.
Justice Joseph, the controversial but 'compassionate' judge who retired from SC Thursday, was seen to have held views in line with the church — particularly on abortion & divorce.
The government said a candidate’s seniority may be overlooked in order to ensure regional representation, but that wasn’t the case with Joseph, whose parent high court is Kerala HC.
The letter comes a fortnight after Justice J. Chelameswar wrote to CJI about the need for a judicial intervention to tackle the problem of the Centre holding up SC collegiums recommendations
The article has been written in response to an article published on ThePrint titled 'SC judgement on triple talaq: What’s monumental about it and what’s not'
The religious scrutiny of the Supreme Court bench hearing the triple talaq case has been lauded and criticised. But more glaring is an all-male bench in a case linked with gender justice issue.
SANYA DHINGRA
Liberty without accountability is the freedom of the fool. Our concept of freedom will remain impoverished until it is deepened by liberal education, wrote Nani A Palkhivala in 1995.
While global corporations setting up GCCs in India continue to express confidence in availability of skilled AI engineers, the panel argued that India’s real challenge lies elsewhere.
It is a brilliant, reasonably priced, and mostly homemade aircraft with a stellar safety record; only two crashes in 24 years since its first flight. But its crash is a moment of introspection.
All courts / judicial institutions should have e-mail IDs. Why should all courts not provide e-mail IDs, when even school kids have e-mail IDs? Digital communications are tamper-proof and deniability is non-existent. Litigants can make submissions to these IDs.
As a matter of fact, courts are using WhattsApp to serve notices / issue summons. Digital communications are not only ethics compliant, they are also environmentally friendly. It will bring around a degree of transparency.
To regret is one thing, but to truly come out clean is another. Justice Kurien may probably be an exception but it is common knowledge in public space how some judges who had humble beginnings had become judges in the first place because of their political leanings or soft corners, and how some judges have amassed wealth beyond their known and manageable sources of income in Office. The case in point is the vagueness that still stands on the charges of amassing wealth against Chief Justice Balakrishnan, etc.
One way to handle this could be – the Judge should, like Executive, declare his and family income and assets the day he is appointed to any court – be it at the lowest Sessions Court level or to a High Court or to Supreme Court. That, to me, is the starting point.
On a more serious note, let us join a few dots. 2. The NJAC Bill was passed early in the government’s tenure, with the political class showing rare unanimity, which was elusive on other important issues like Land Acquisition. 2. The impeachment motion against CJI Dipak Misra was rejected by the Vice President. 3. The complaint of the lady employee and issues pertaining to her family members have been swirling around with the authorities for several months before they entered the public domain. Observe how they have been dealt with. Or even how protests in the last few days, some as far afield as Bangalore, are being contained. 4. For the executive to covet the power to appoint judges or have some role in disciplinary proceedings is not an act of altruism. The higher judiciary, especially the apex court, is the only meaningful source of countervailing power in the system. Not just ordinary citizens but even other institutions who find their autonomy being undermined have no other means of redress. Hence Mrs Gandhi’s desire for a “ committed judiciary “. I blindly supported the NJAC judgment without reading a word of it. It was physics, not law. 5. When so much power resides in the higher judiciary, it has to raise the bar very high for itself. If it falters, the almost uncritical faith ordinary citizens place in it will start melting. At the appropriate time, the executive will reclaim paramountcy. One sees in Justice Dr Dhananjay Chandrachud a fine appreciation of what is at stake in this matter. It goes beyond one individual. If not handled with fairness, majesty will begin to leach out of the institution.
A small suggestion.
All courts / judicial institutions should have e-mail IDs. Why should all courts not provide e-mail IDs, when even school kids have e-mail IDs? Digital communications are tamper-proof and deniability is non-existent. Litigants can make submissions to these IDs.
As a matter of fact, courts are using WhattsApp to serve notices / issue summons. Digital communications are not only ethics compliant, they are also environmentally friendly. It will bring around a degree of transparency.
To regret is one thing, but to truly come out clean is another. Justice Kurien may probably be an exception but it is common knowledge in public space how some judges who had humble beginnings had become judges in the first place because of their political leanings or soft corners, and how some judges have amassed wealth beyond their known and manageable sources of income in Office. The case in point is the vagueness that still stands on the charges of amassing wealth against Chief Justice Balakrishnan, etc.
One way to handle this could be – the Judge should, like Executive, declare his and family income and assets the day he is appointed to any court – be it at the lowest Sessions Court level or to a High Court or to Supreme Court. That, to me, is the starting point.
On a more serious note, let us join a few dots. 2. The NJAC Bill was passed early in the government’s tenure, with the political class showing rare unanimity, which was elusive on other important issues like Land Acquisition. 2. The impeachment motion against CJI Dipak Misra was rejected by the Vice President. 3. The complaint of the lady employee and issues pertaining to her family members have been swirling around with the authorities for several months before they entered the public domain. Observe how they have been dealt with. Or even how protests in the last few days, some as far afield as Bangalore, are being contained. 4. For the executive to covet the power to appoint judges or have some role in disciplinary proceedings is not an act of altruism. The higher judiciary, especially the apex court, is the only meaningful source of countervailing power in the system. Not just ordinary citizens but even other institutions who find their autonomy being undermined have no other means of redress. Hence Mrs Gandhi’s desire for a “ committed judiciary “. I blindly supported the NJAC judgment without reading a word of it. It was physics, not law. 5. When so much power resides in the higher judiciary, it has to raise the bar very high for itself. If it falters, the almost uncritical faith ordinary citizens place in it will start melting. At the appropriate time, the executive will reclaim paramountcy. One sees in Justice Dr Dhananjay Chandrachud a fine appreciation of what is at stake in this matter. It goes beyond one individual. If not handled with fairness, majesty will begin to leach out of the institution.
On a lighter note, all women should be chaste, not just the virgins.