The Hindu : Opinion / Letters to the Editor : Judicial restraint

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Saturday, Dec 15, 2007
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Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Judicial restraint

This refers to the editorial “A welcome realisation” (Dec. 14). The observation by Justices A.K. Mathur and Markandey Katju on the need for judicial restraint calls for serious introspection on the part of all institutions. It is becoming necessary to redefine the role of the judiciary to ensure that the balance of power enshrined in the Constitution is scrupulously adhered to.

Alladi Krishnasamy Ayyar, one of the founding fathers of our Constitution, rightly observed that “the doctrine of [judicial] independence is not raised to the level of a dogma so as to enable the judiciary to function as a kind of super-legislature or super-executive ... The judiciary as much as the Congress and the executive, is depending for its proper functioning upon the cooperation of the other two.”

A.S. Farida,

Kancheepuram

The editorial was well thought out and the words that the judiciary should refrain from “trivialising its agenda” have been aptly used to describe the existing situation. Judges, in their over-enthusiasm, are playing to the gallery in allowing petitions on subjects that have no relevance to the constitutional scheme.

D. Manoharan,

Madurai

Judges are not too eager to run the government. They have reluctantly done so, when the elected legislatures have failed to discharge their duties or the executive has not acted responsibly. Was the Supreme Court’s suo motu action on the tragedy in Erwadi, Tamil Nadu, where 28 mentally ill chained inmates died in a fire, judicial overreach? What about cases in which the legislatures have issued privilege notices against mediapersons for expressing their views? Of course, there has been judicial overreach in certain matters. But it is also true that but for the timely intervention by courts, democracy, secularism and freedom of expression would have been endangered.

N.G.R. Prasad,

Chennai

It was interesting to read the divergent views between Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and the two judges of the Supreme Court on judicial activism. In spite of the exalted position the judiciary enjoys, like all institutions, it is made up of people and people cannot be infallible. While there is a check on the legislature through elections every five years, the mechanism to rein in an errant judge is rather dismal in our country. It is best if all the pillars of democracy perform their functions within their domain without exceeding their constitutional limits.

J. Arvind Narayan,

Mauritius

The observation by the two judges that the judiciary should not encroach on the functions of the legislature and the executive will go a long way in reducing the friction between the makers and interpreters of law. Even though, as pointed out by the Chief Justice, it does not restrict the court from dealing with public interest litigation, it will certainly impose some discretionary restraint on creative interpretations which restrict legislation involving socio-economic equity.

Kasim Sait,

Chennai

The people are forced to approach the judiciary when other remedies are not available. Public interest litigation pleas have proved to be a strong and potent weapon in the hands of the courts to unearth many scams and corruption cases in public life.

Jetling Yellosa,

Warangal

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