Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Judicial restraint

This refers to the Supreme Court’s exhortation to courts to observe judicial restraint. If the subordinate courts follow the advice, the pendency of cases can be considerably reduced. The observation, it is hoped, will pave the way for harmonious relations among the legislature, the executive and the judiciary.

P.N. Ramachandran,

Kozhikode

The Supreme Court caution has not come a day too soon. Of late, many judges have tended to behave like policymakers, ignoring the fact that they do not have the people’s mandate to make policies.

Sheriff Ashik Mohideen,

Chennai

Some verdicts and court orders necessitated constitutional functionaries such as the Prime Minister and the Speaker to voice their anguish over judicial overreach and intrusion into the functioning of the legislature. That the Supreme Court has made some critical comments on itself too is welcome. While the people initially welcomed judicial activism, subsequently it turned into judicial adventurism. It is hoped that the apex court’s guidelines on respecting the separation of powers will be honoured by all concerned in future.

Ki. Ilakkuvan,

Chennai

The term ‘judicial activism’ is a misnomer as the judiciary intervenes only in cases where the legislature and the executive have failed to do their assigned tasks, and where the larger public interest is threatened by the wilful actions of the other two pillars of democracy. All talk of judicial overreach is over-reaction to fair verdicts. The people are happy with the timely intervention of courts to restore equilibrium in the conduct of state affairs.

V. Padmanabhan,

Bangalore

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

A welcome realisation
Guns and campus rage
An ideological family in ferment
Some inconvenient truths
Palestinian statehood not the fair solution
Has voice recognition finally come of age?
Credit crisis spells end of free market consensus
Corrections and clarifications
Unfortunate
On Moditva
Judicial restraint

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu