[rti4empowerment] From WEDS: Does this herald a honest judiciary guardian of fundamental rights of citizens in Indian Democracy as well as of The Constitution of India?

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Does this indicate a paradigm shift? CJI Kapadia when appointed was touted as protege of former CJI KGB against who was alleged of mass scale corruption

 

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WEDS

 

 

http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5122936

16/04/2011

Kapadia opposes political protection to corrupt judges

New Delhi: The judiciary should not try to act as a super legislature, Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia said Saturday. He also asked the political leadership to resist from giving protection to corrupt judges.

Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia (C ) Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Dipak Misra ( R ) and president Bar Association of India, Anil B Divan during the 5th M. C. Setalval Memorial Lecture in New Delhi on Saturday. PTI

Cautioning against internal interference from high-ranking judges which, if resisted, could lead to lower-ranking judges being transferred or being denied promotions, he said "similarly political protection should not be given to corrupt judges".

The chief justice said judges should resist the temptation of post-retirement assignments. "A judge must not accept patronage through which he acquires office, preferential treatment or pre-retirement assignments. These can give rise to corruption."

He advised judges to impose upon themselves certain "restrictions" and remain "a little aloof and isolated" from people in order to erase the suspicion that they were susceptible to undue influence in the discharge of duties.

He told judges to eschew contact with lawyers, individuals or political parties, their leaders or ministers unless it was on purely social occasions. A judge's obligation must start and end with his analysis of law, not just personal beliefs or preferences.

He asked the courts to desist from the tendency of substituting decisions of legislative bodies with their own socio-economic beliefs.

"We must refuse to sit as super legislatures to weigh the wisdom of the legislation," Chief Justice Kapadia said, delivering the fifth M.C. Setalvad Memorial Lecture on the 'Canons of Judicial Ethics' here.

"In many PILs (public interest litigations), the courts freely decree rule of conduct for the government and public authorities which are akin to legislation. Such exercises have little judicial function in them," the chief justice said.

 

Disagreeing with the rationale that the judiciary was encroaching upon the legislative domain because the executive (government) had failed to discharge its responsibilities, Justice Kapadia said that "the courts should be circumspect in understanding the thin line between law and governance".

The chief justice said a balance had to be struck between judicial independence and the accountability of judges. He said the challenge before the judiciary was how to respond to unreasonable criticism of courts.

The chief justice said that there was a need for striking a right balance between the judicial accountability and principle of judicial independence.

He said the challenge was "how does one achieve the right balance between autonomy in decision making and independence from external forces on the one hand and accountability to the community on the other hand?"

The habit of thinking impersonally, without regard for the worldly advantages or disadvantages of an opinion or an action was ethical thinking, he said.

"This is the prerequisite of judicial thinking. The man who is only interested in himself is not admissible (to ethical thinking)," said the chief justice.

The chief justice in his lecture dealt with a wide range of subjects relating to Canons of Judicial Ethics that included subject like Judicial ethics: From just words to deeds, Structuring of judgments, Accountability and judicial independence in the context of judicial activism and Value-based judicial accountability and independence.

The lecture was organised by the Bar Association of India in the memory of Setalvad, who was the first attorney general of India.

Delhi High Court Chief Justice Dipak Misra earlier said that the canons of judicial ethics should include both the judges and the advocates. He said that there should be strict adherence to integrity both in public and private life.

Source: IANS