Independence Of Judiciary Under Threat Even Today; Delay In Clearing Collegium Proposals One Example : Justice Oka

Speaking at an event, retired Supreme Court judge-Justice Abhay S Oka called out the government over delays in approving names of judges recommended for appointment by the Supreme Court collegium."Independence of judiciary is under challenge even today. I'll give one example. We have Collegium system. Every document on how it functions is made transparent. Today, after Collegium approves recommendation, it is put on the website, it takes 9 months, 10 months, year for govt to approve names of the judges! Once Supreme Court Collegium resolution is on website, please imagine mindset of that person. He can't get the work, he feels that he is going to become a judge, but he has to wait for 9 months, 10 months or even a year or more. Does it not affect independence of judiciary?", said Justice Oka, while delivering a lecture as part of the first edition of Late Mr. Justice HR Khanna Memorial Lecture Series hosted by Goa High Court Bar Association.The topic of the lecture was "Independence of Judiciary". Apart from Justice Oka, the event was graced by Goa Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai, Justice Bharati Dangre (Judge, Bombay High Court at Goa), Goa Advocate General (and Senior Advocate) Devidas J Pangam and Senior Advocate (and GHCBA President) Jose Elmano Coelho Pereira.Justice Oka noted that there are executive delays in appointments of judges, even though former Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna went transparent and made public every single document regarding how the collegium system functions."At every stage, right from the recommendation made by the collegium of the High Court, at every stage, the state and the authorities have their say. The Chief Minister can raise an objection, the Hon'ble Governor can raise an objection. Then there is I.B. Report. Now I.B. works under the Home Ministry. The I.B. Report, there is a response of the government of India which all comes up before the Supreme Court collegium", Justice Oka said.The address underlined the importance of an independent judiciary for protection of fundamental rights and democracy. "Even after 75 yrs of independence, it is important to protect fundamental rights. Unless we have independent judiciary, fundamental rights and democracy will not survive. It is the judiciary who has protected slum dwellers, poor and down-trodden."Applauding Justice HR Khanna's sacrifice of Chief Justiceship, as a result of his dissenting opinion in ADM Jabalpur v. Shiv Kant Shukla (habeas corpus case), Justice Oka said,"See the bench that dealt with ADM Jabalpur. Except for Justice HR Khanna, the other 3 who were part of majority became CJI. This is worth considering. I want young lawyers to remember the sacrifice made by Justice Khanna. He was fully aware when writing the minority view that it would cost him the Chief Justiceship."The lecture further stressed that there's always a tendency on the part of those in power to tinker with the independence of judiciary. However, it is judges' duty to not be bothered by how their judgments will be perceived by the powerful."What I learned from these judges is that after a judge takes oath of office under the Constitution, he should never ever think about his future prospects. Whenever a case comes before him, he has to apply the law, the constitutional principles. He should not be bothered by what powerful people would feel about the judgment or that powerful people will get offended."Justice Oka also expressed that by upholding the law and constitutional principles, a judge gets the satisfaction of keeping his oath, even if he does not get a higher post or gets it belatedly."It is the duty of judges to not think about consequences of their judgments. Their duty is to see that correct judgments are delivered. If you're bold and fearless, you may not get the higher post, or you may get it quite late. But what you get is a great satisfaction of abiding by your oath."In the context of the importance of Justice HR Khanna's dissent in ADM Jabalpur, Justice Oka referred to a New York Times article, which read as follows,"if India ever finds its way back to the freedom and democracy that were proud hallmarks of its first 18 yrs as an independent nation, someone will surely erect a monument of Justice HR Khanna."Even though no monument was erected for Justice HR Khanna, he will always be remembered for what he did to uphold independence of judiciary and fundamental rights of citizens, said the former judge.On the supersession of 3 senior Supreme Court judges (JM Shelat, KS Hegde and AN Grover) in 1973, after the Kesavananda Bharati judgment, which led to the appointment of Justice AN Ray as CJI, Justice Oka commented,"Kesavananda Bharati was one judgment which kept democracy in India intact. Within 3 days of this judgment, 3 judges were superseded. When emergency was proclaimed, there was only 1 survivor of majority view in Kesavananda Bharati, ie Justice HR Khanna. 3 judges had to forego Chief Justiceship...look at the...

Independence Of Judiciary Under Threat Even Today; Delay In Clearing Collegium Proposals One Example : Justice Oka

Debby Jain

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