Thanks Aires What can we lay-people do in this matter? It seems necessary that we take some concerted action to ensure the independence and above-board characteristics of our judiciary at both Centre and State levels.
Aloysius D'Souza On Sat, Oct 26, 2019 at 3:09 AM Aires Rodrigues <[email protected]> wrote: > In a very retrograde and questionable move the Supreme Court so abruptly > and without prior notice or warning has suddenly stopped uploading the > resolutions of its collegium recommending High Court and Supreme Court > judges for appointment and transfers. From October 2017, the resolutions > put up on the Supreme Court website gave brief details on the procedure by > which nominees were recommended or rejected by the collegium. This allowed > some clarity into a method that has been time and again severely criticized > for its lack of transparency and sheer arbitrariness. > > > > It is unclear as to why this sudden move has occurred, as no resolution of > the collegium has been uploaded stating that the practice of making public > the resolutions of the collegium will be stopped. It is all the more > legally distrustful since the practice was started as a result of the > collegium itself resolving to make its resolutions public. > > > > At a time when the collegium has come under increasing pressure from all > quarters over some of its very contentious decisions, now to simply refuse > to disclose any further information about its decisions smacks of absolute > institutional spinelessness. Worse still the country will view this > backward move with suspicion and disappointment that the highest court in > the land may have surrendered its own good practices of transparency as a > result of external influence or because they have something to hide. This > will erode the faith of people in the judiciary. > > > > An effective judiciary guarantees fairness in judicial processes and > transparency.Any argument that transparency will undermine independence is > not valid as the public has the right to know as much as possible without > infringing on privacy, about those who sit in judgement on their fate. The > public must be confident that the judiciary is beyond reproach. > Transparency is a fundamental component of judicial independence. We can > only assure this independence if we have relevant information about the > judiciary and its performance. > > > > As an Advocate, I am extremely pained to have to candidly comment on our > nation’s highest Court but I would have had to bear the guilt of remaining > a silent spectator to what is obviously intrinsically wrong with the > Judiciary at the highest level casting a gloom and doom on what has been > perceived as the common man’s last hope for Justice. > > > Aires Rodrigues > > Advocate High Court > > C/G-2, Shopping Complex > > Ribandar Retreat, > > Ribandar – Goa – 403006 > > Mobile No: 9822684372 > > Office Tel No: (0832) 2444012 > > Email: [email protected] > > Or > > [email protected] > > You can also reach me on > > Facebook.com/ AiresRodrigues > > Twitter@rodrigues_aires > > > www.airesrodrigues.com >
