Social justice has been placed on the back-burner by the supreme court in the last few years

AT A PANEL DISCUSSION AT THE BOOK LAUNCH OF “IN PURSUIT OF JUSTICE – AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY” BY LATE JUSTICE RAVINDER SACHAR, JUSTICE (RETD.) MADAN LOKUR, AND SENIOR ADVOCATES KAPIL SIBAL AND MUKUL ROHATGI EXPRESSED STRONG VIEWS ON THE TOPIC “PERSONAL FREEDOM AND JUDICIARY”.

VIEWS OF JUSTICE MADAN B. LOKUR

• Justice Lokur opined that the Supreme Court has indeed put social justice on the back-burner in the last few years.

• He cited the recent pandemic situation wherein the Court did not act proactively with the issues of migrant labors and people being thrown out of jobs.

• He hinted the two “mantras” – The Constitution being above everything, and the Judges being people oriented, while lauding late Justice Sachar for following these two mantras.

• He also criticized the UP Love Jihad law for coming out as an Ordinance at a time when it was not of immediate importance.

VIEWS OF JUSTICE MADAN B. LOKUR

• He opined that the problems with Court is twofold – Institutional and Individual. One institutional problem is that the CJI is the Master of Roster, while an Individual problem can be that some Judges do not hear particular types of cases simply because they don’t like it.

• He also mentioned that late Justice Sachar would have stepped in to improve the present situation where liberty of people are being curtailed and they are being kept under preventive detention for unspecified durations.

• On question regarding whether actions of Judges should be scrutinized, Justice Lokur asserted that the Judges should indeed be scrutinized. He cited the example of a High Court that was recently deprecated by Supreme Court for passing final orders without any reasoned judgments.

VIEWS OF SR. ADVOCATE KAPIL SIBAL

• Sibal opined that the Supreme Court had lost its way “years ago”.

• He pointed out that nowadays, politicized issues are given priority, while brushing the issues of liberty “under the carpet”.

• He cited the Kashmir case wherein several people were kept under detention u/s 144 CrPC for several months, and yet Supreme Court took no notice of it.

• He also took on the Court for believing that there are no people walking on highways, even when the news channels were flooded with videos of migrant labors walking back home.

• He also criticized the Court for not having important issues like electoral bonds, or CAA on the roster.

• Sibal lauded Justice Lokur for regularly dealing with issues relating to social justice, and showed regret for not having Judges like him anymore.

• He also opined that Judges should not join politics after having served the Court, saying that it is about the integrity in the political system and the judicial system.

VIEWS OF SR. ADVOCATE MUKUL ROHATGI

• Rohatgi opined that the infraction of liberty, also called the “conscience keeper of the Nation”, has been pushed back in the last few years.

• He also laid thesis that it is in fact the Judiciary that is taking away the space from the Legislature and the Executive by the process of judgments.

• He opined, in regards to the UP Ordinance that forced marriages and conversions are happening at galore, and that if a law has been brought, it is ultimately the will of the Assembly or the Parliament which is supreme.

• Rohatgi also pointed out how good lawyers do not become Judges owing to the low remuneration given to Judges, and how “third-grade” lawyers take up the posts.

• He also pointed out how the variations in different Judges’ ideologies. He illustrated that in tenant-landlord disputes, some Judges are always inclined towards the tenants while others might be inclined towards the landlords.

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