The unearthing burnt rupee bundles from a Delhi High Court Judge’s residence have shocked the country. Those who believed in rule of law and looked up to the courts as the final hope of justice is in quandary. As people have little hope in the political and administrative executive in giving them justice, the courts which swear by the constitution of the country were seen as the last hope of ideals as promised in the precious document governing the welfare State.
However, there was an increasing awareness among people that there is a huge cost for getting justice, in terms of legal fees and also time taken to get the justice. With the unearthing of burnt notes from a judge’s residence doubts have arisen about the integrity of the entire judicial system, not just the cost of justice.
The note bundle surfaces, when the people were wondering who can afford such an expensive justice system in a country, where lawyers are demanding huge fees and courts are taking their own sweet time to decide on cases. Also there is an increasing trend that the courts are more into financial disputes, be it with government and others or corporate sector disputes, other than the issues of public interest. Once popular public interest litigation cases are rarely heard now a days.
The lineup of lawyers in defending political corruption cases and their astronomical fees points to another trend of partaking in the “loot” of the corrupt politicians. Not that even the worst have a right to defend them, but when the best of lawyers fall for their huge promises, one begins to doubt the integrity of the justice delivery system itself.
The fact that “ burnt note bundle” judge handling mostly the corporate disputes is also equally worrisome. There was already a feeling that the cash rich corporations’ are bending the justice system to their benefit and cash –burnt or otherwise adds to a positive confusion to this end.
The curious case of Justice CS Karnan of Madras High Court had revealed that all is not well with the judiciary almost a decade back. Soon after the demonetisation of the ruppe was announced, in January 2017, Justice Karnan wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister listing 20 sitting and retired Supreme Court and High Court judges who had indulged in corruption and demanded an investigation into this by central agencies. This followed his allegation against caste discrimination in courts as he belonged to dalit community. Justice Karnan was transferred to Kolkata High Court and later sentenced six months for contempt of court. No one knows about the letter to the Prime Minister nor did any of the courts bother to investigate internally as to whether the allegations of a fellow judge have an iota of truth.
However, the Supreme Court has now woken up to the issue of burnt notes and ordered an in-house enquiry of the issue by three high court judges and also transferred the concerned judge. While the country awaits the in-house report on the issue, questions on appointment of judges to courts by the courts own collegiums has come under focus.
The government and the politicians are keen to push for their role in the appointment of judges through an old National Judicial Commission(NJC) act, which the Supreme Court had rejected NJC for an in-house collegiums system. Reports that even the recommendations of the collegiums are firmed up as per dictates of the appointing authority of the government makes the entire system a farce. It is a fact that the judges are appointed by the government and judiciary is an arm of the government and the recommendations of collegiums of courts are subject to approval of the political bosses. No idea why the judiciary is not accepting the role of the government and going about it in a transparent manner in selection of judges and hiding behind the non-existent “independence “ of judiciary. The situation is such that, in many courts, especially the courts assigned for trials of investigating agencies, the suggestions of the government lawyers are now has a near binding role on the judiciary . Many of the arrested in such cases are in the Enforcement Directorate, CBI or NIA tend to rot in jail without bail for years as a result of this.
It is high time the judiciary accepts the serious erosion of its credibility before the masses and come out with an effective mechanism to showcase its “independence”, in delivery of the justice by the courts, be it lower or higher judiciary. The feeling that only money can buy justice in India needs to go. Which means that entire financial protocols around the courts need to be re-visited by the courts? More importantly in a country where the majority are still on their hard journey for daily existence, the focus of the courts on corporate settlements need to be reviewed and social justice be given priority.
