‘Judiciary has acquitted itself’

Calling the Bombay HC a “spectacular bulwark of freedom in Independent India,” Singh said 22 judges of the court were elevated to the Supreme Court and eight judges have been appointed to the post of Chief Justice of India. He referred to judgments from the court in specialised fields such as intellectual property,cyber laws and international commercial arbitration.

Listing steps taken by the Centre for judicial reforms,he mentioned the launching of a ‘National Mission for Justice’ and formulation of a proposal for creation of an All India Judicial Service. He also said a group under the Law Commission was looking into the issue of improvements needed in court procedures and criminal justice system.

Referring to the changing role of the judiciary,he said,“With rapid economic growth our country has seen in the past two decades or so,this task has become even more complex,more specialised and more challenging.”

Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia,in his address,called for judicial restraint,observing,“Judicial overreach would destroy the legitimacy of judicial review. The citizens of India are not to be governed by judges.”

Speaking of the existence of two “political moralities”,morality of the law and morality of the government,Kapadia said,“…government is constrained by various factors; the ballot box,the party machine,Parliamentary arithmetic,external circumstances and public opinion.”

He said there was need for an “assumption of constitutionality” and noted that persons “should not begin a legislation by saying that there is corruption.” His remarks assume significance in the backdrop of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s allegations that judgments could be bought.

CM Prithviraj Chavan,Goa CM Manohar Parrikar and Law Minister Salman Khurshid attended the event.