Apex court Judge Reddy against free run to bureaucracy

Supreme Court Judge B Sudershan Reddy said the greatest constitutional challenge would be to accommodate civil society institutions and their deliberations into the reckoning of formal institutions of the state and decision-making.

The greatest constitutional challenge of all would be to structure the democracy in a manner that balanced the voices and powers of the legislature, executive, the judiciary and the civil society, he said speaking on ‘Constitutional challenges ahead and the role of the Bar.’ He dismissed as a ‘pack of lies’ that Earth’s resources were inexhaustible and ‘trickle down theory advocated by exponents of the market economy’ and said the question now was whether ecological disaster would strike first or all people would be wiped out in an all out war for scarce resources.

‘Some of the wealth earned by the rich might trickle down was another lie as it was questionable whether there would ever be a limit to the greed of the rich and whether they would share anything with the poor. Ecological disaster would know no boundaries and its proximate cause could not be pinned on to any one specific set of factors, particular industries or even particular countries.’ ‘If the Constitution and constitutional philosophy had to continue to have meaning, they would need to continue to perform role of outer limits of human actions and states responsibilities in keeping those human actions within those constraints.

‘Whether we can build consensus, non-strategic and long-term vision oriented behaviour amongst the actors and what choices we make will determine whether we make the right choices or not,’ he observed while delivering a lecture in memory of Andhra Pradesh’s first Advocate-General D Narasa Raju.

Every institution and each citizen has to become custodian of the constitution, he said, adding ‘for too long, we have allowed politicians and bureaucrats to violate the constitutional minima and throw the ball in courts to answer citizens. That sort of constitutional buck passing has to stop.’ Stressing the need for bringing ethical values to forefront of political sphere-- political parties, legislature, executive and also the judiciary, he said, quoting Mr H V Kariath during Constituent Assembly debates, that Constitution could be subverted not merely by agitators, rebels and revolutionaries, but also by people in office, by people in power.

Referring to nuclear energy deals that India might strike or not in the future, he said State and its instrumentalities had begun to function like players in the market, pursuing short-run tactical gains rather than long-term visions and moving away from Directive Principles of State policy.