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Supreme Court Chief Justice of India Sarosh Homi Kapadia on Wednesday advised the government to let the judiciary retain independence while drafting the relevant Judicial Accountability Bill for enactment. Speaking on the occasion of India’s 66th Independence Day celebrations at the Supreme Court here, Chief Justice Kapadia observed that any enactment by the parliament should not hinder the constitutional philosophy of judicial independence. “Transparency and accountability have got to be there in all the three branches (parliament, judiciary and executive). However, in respect of judicial branch, I have one comment to make; I would request the government that accountability should be balanced with judicial independence. It should not happen that in the process of enacting laws for making the judges accountable, the concept of judicial independence is lost sight of because decisional independence and structural independence are more important when you are required to balance accountability and judicial independence.” He also observed that the fraternity of judges was not scared of any law, but the government should consult noted jurist from all sections of society vis-à-vis the draft of Judicial Accountability Bill. He emphasized on the fact that transparency and accountability of judiciary must be in tandem with judicial independence. “The government may make laws making the judges accountable, we are not afraid of that. The question is that in that process the constitutional tinkering should be done very carefully. We need to take opinions of eminent jurists who will give objective opinion and jurists coming from all sections otherwise I am afraid that with the state of drafting of laws in our country today we will be taking a very big risk and we will be disturbing the constitutional balance which we will be regretting for all times to come,” added Chief Justice Kapadia. Further he noted that there are times when judges take such decisions that disturb the constitutional balance between the three branches of the government – the parliament, judiciary and executive The Chief Justice said the division of powers as enlisted in the Constitution between the judiciary, executive and legislature should be honoured and abided by concerned authorities over these three branches of government. He warned the judiciary to be cautious while making decisions, as there was a need to make a detail study particularly with the judicial independence. “When you interpret the Article of a fundamental right we must also keep in mind that there is an institutional structure and architecture of the Constitution, which provides for checks and balances. Sometimes in our anxiety to do justice we give an interpretation which may disturb the Constitutional balance between the three branches of the government,” said Chief Justice Kapadia. Earlier this year, the Bill that will probe complaints of misbehaviour by judges, was passed in the Lok Sabha.

Chief Justice asks Govt not to tinker with judicial independence