As Justice Bandiyal reaches the end of his tenure, a reckoning, of sorts, is but natural. Expect many think pieces in the papers and websites, by talking heads on television and social media. The piece you are reading right now is no exception.
But a lot of that will focus on Justice Bandiyal and not enough about the institution that he heads. True, his own personal legacy as the chief justice could be taken apart and examined – he was almost laughably partial to one political party in particular – but such analysis often ignores the larger malaise that besets our institutions, one larger in scope than any one person.
Even in healthy democracies, the sort we in our hapless republic seek to emulate, there is always a tension between the judiciary and the executive. Even between the judiciary and the legislature. That is the way this particular cookie crumbles; nothing wrong with that. But there is a point where the judiciary forgets itself and fashions itself as part of the ruling class. While the backlog of cases keeps rising, the judiciary famously involves itself in matters that do not concern it (at best) or are absolutely trivial (at worst.)
Justice as a public good remains a distant dream, but what is worse is the lack of accountability. The press has to tread carefully when it comes to covering the proceedings of the court, risking contempt notices. Similarly, the law ministry has not much of a way of looking into justice provision. Whereas the law lords are brought in to appear for scrutiny and questioning in the House of Commons in the UK, in our neck of the woods, even such a thought expressed by a sitting government will lead to a crisis.
The permanent establishment can smell opportunities, and the consequence of such an unaccountable attitude has been for the judiciary’s own directives to be flouted openly, as we can see during the current onslaught against the erstwhile ruling party. Incarcerated politicians ordered to be released by the courts are picked up under other cases before the bail orders’ ink is even dry.
There is need for introspection by all institutions, the judiciary being no exception.
