As Supreme court Judge Arun Mishra retires on 2nd September it would be a huge relief towards the Independence of the Judiciary. He not long ago went well overboard in publicly eulogizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We will soon know what reward he gets by way of a plumb posting as a retirement nest.
The nomination to the Rajya Sabha of former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi who retired in November last year was a very dark day for India’s Judiciary. We all saw how then Chief Justice of India P. Sathasivam who within weeks of his retirement was rewarded by Narendra Modi with an appointment on 31st August 2014 as the Governor of Kerala. The Judiciary should never be manned by persons who are tilted or aligned to any political party. Judges should have the spine to crack on illegalities done by all politicians, regardless of how high positions they hold. It has to be ensured that judicial accountability is maintained at all times with every Judge conforming to the highest standards of uprightness and integrity. The Constitution of India is very clear on the distinct roles of the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. It envisages a free, fair and independent Judiciary. An independent and honourable judiciary is indispensable to justice in our Society. A judge should maintain and enforce high standards of conduct and should personally observe those standards, so that the independence of the judiciary may be preserved. The integrity and independence of judges depend in turn on their acting without fear or favour. To ensure the highest standards of judicial independence at all times and to ward off even the faintest trace of governmental influence on the judiciary, there needs to be at least a two year “cooling off period" for retiring judges before they accept any post retirement position. Adherence to this responsibility helps to maintain public confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary. Conversely, violation of this code diminishes public confidence in the judiciary and injures our system of government under law. Let’s pray that retiring Judge Arun Mishra and any other judge does not prove Arundhati Roy, a world renowned author right when she opined that ‘the crisis of a modern democracy is a profound one. Free elections, a free press and an independent judiciary mean little when the free market has reduced them to commodities available on sale to the highest bidder’ 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
