Hyderabad: The notion that “the judges are themselves appointing judges” is a myth as the judiciary is one of the many players involved in the process of selection of judicial officers, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana said on Sunday.
He was delivering the fifth Sri Lavu Venkatavarlu Endowment Lecture on “Indian Judiciary – Future Challenges” at Siddhartha Law College, Vijayawada.
He also said that in recent times, physical attacks on judicial officers are on the rise and at times, there are concerted campaigns against judges in print and social media if the parties do not get a favorable order, while these attacks are “sponsored and Sponsored”. synchronized. “There is a need to liberate the institution of Public Prosecutors. He further said that they should be given complete freedom and they should be made answerable only to the courts.
“Nowadays it is fashionable to repeat phrases like ‘the judges are appointing the judges themselves’. I consider this to be one of the widely publicized myths. The fact is that the judiciary is one of the many players involved in the process,” Justice Ramana said. said.
Recently, Kerala MP John Brittas had reportedly said during a debate in Parliament on the High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salary and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill, 2021 that judges who appoint judges are nowhere unheard of. Huh.
“Several authorities are involved, including the Union Law Ministry, State Governments, Governors, High Court Collegiate, Intelligence Bureau, and finally, the Supreme Executive, all of whom have been nominated to examine the suitability of a candidate. I am sad to know that even the experts propagate the above notion. After all, this narrative suits certain sections,” said Justice Ramana.
Appreciating the Centre’s efforts to appoint more judges, he said, some of the recommendations made by the High Courts are yet to be communicated to the Supreme Court by the Union Law Ministry. It is expected that the government needs to strictly adhere to the time-limit prescribed in the Malik Mazhar case.
The CJI said that law enforcing agencies, especially specialized agencies, need to effectively deal with malicious attacks on the judiciary, it is unfortunate that unless the court intervened and passed an order, the officers usually But do not proceed with the investigation.
“Governments are expected and duty bound to create a safe environment so that judges and judicial officers can act fearlessly,” he said.
New media tools have the potential to expand wide, but are unable to differentiate between right and wrong, good and bad, and real and fake. Media cannot be a guiding factor in deciding trial cases, he added.
He said that historically, prosecutors in India have been under the control of the government.
“It is therefore no surprise that they do not act independently. They do nothing to prevent frivolous and non-deserving cases from reaching the courts. Public prosecutors can freely apply for bail applications without putting their mind to it. themselves. They try to suppress the evidence during trial which may benefit the accused.”
An overall resale needs to be done. To protect public prosecutors, an independent selection committee may be constituted for their appointment. He said that best practices should be adopted after comparative analysis of other jurisdictions.
While making laws, law makers should also think of providing effective remedies for the issues which may arise out of the law and yet these principles are being ignored, he said.
Citing the Bihar Prohibition Act in 2016, which resulted in filling up of a lot of bail applications in the High Court, Justice Ramana said that lack of foresight in making laws can directly lead to obstruction of the courts.
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