Judging the system

It is seen to be a strength of India8217;s system that when one institution takes a misstep, goes astray, another steps up, applies a corrective. This accounts in large part for the defiant survival of democracy, and its marvelous robustness, in a terrain that many had earlier claimed was simply too large, too diverse, too economically unequal. In recent times, this role of corrective has been played mostly by one institution 8212; the judiciary. This year enhanced this trend as the judiciary was seen to nudge, coax and even force the executive8217;s hand on many issues while serving warnings to the legislature on several others. Be it the belated resolution of the Priyadarshini Mattoo and Jessica Lall cases, the Delhi government8217;s court-mandated sealing drive, or the court8217;s restraining hand in the vexed matter of reservations in institutions of higher education 8212; the judiciary was seen as the sole recourse for the citizen who felt thwarted by the executive or legislature in 2006. In 2007, we take with us a question: in a vibrant and mature democracy, is this a situation in need of further correction?

The worry is this: while the judiciary in India has proved itself to be responsible and sober, is it proper for any one institution to be seen to be the overweening one? If democracy is the result of complex accommodations, is it not a cause for concern if crucial decisions are increasingly lobbed into a bounded domain which is, and should be, impervious to any negotiations? If the judiciary becomes the shiniest institution in a raucous democracy, something more than a happy trend of constitutionalism may be at work 8212; the unelected institution8217;s growing stature may be on account of the people8217;s diminishing faith in elected institutions and political processes.

But a constitutional democracy can also be a win-win game. The respect that comes the judiciary8217;s way need not necessarily be seen to be at the cost of faith in the legislature or executive. Let8217;s work on a new balance. We could begin in the new year.