New Hope- Indian Judiciary
On the 26th of November, India has to observe National Law Day or the 'samvidhan divas' or Constitution Day. This day is celebrated in order to commemorate the date on which the Constituent Assembly of India adopted the Constitution- 26th November 1949. The Constitution of India came into force on the 26th of January, 1950. It's being celebrated in India to pay respect to the values of our constitution makers and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar prominently. 26th November was officially notified as the “Law Day” in order to commemorate the 125th Birthday of B.R. Ambedkar.
Going back to the history of the making of our constitution, The Constituent Assembly met for the first time, before the independence of India in 1947, on 9 December 1946. The first President of the Constituent Assembly was Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha and the meetings of the Constituent Assembly took place until 24th January 1950.
The Constitution is the source of all the laws in India and it legitimises and gives authority to various offices in our country. The Supreme Court is the watchdog of our Constitution and in order to protect the ideals of the Constitution the Independence of the Judiciary is very important. The other organs namely- Legislature and Executive have from time to time tried to interfere with the working of the Judiciary. There have been attempts to control judicial appointments from time to time and the legislature has tried to overstep by introducing certain reforms from time-to-time which try to control the judicial appointments. The major reason is to induct biased and partisan persons as judges who will favour the government or the union or certain political parties/leaders in their decisions. This becomes a problematic situation especially if we take into consideration that the government is the biggest litigant in the courts and one can only imagine what kind of bias it would create.
This year on 9th November, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud has taken over as the 50th Chief Justice of India. He was in the news recently as there were attempts to tarnish his reputation by certain untoward elements in the bar. There was a strong stand taken by the legal fraternity to condemn such an act. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud is a distinguished jurist at the international level and is credited with being the voice of dissent and has taken many views in support of the rights of women and for the protection of rights of privacy.
Recently, at an event, he was asked about judicial bias by a student. In a very honest way, he replied by saying that in order to bring fairness towards the bench, a judge has to accept his bias first. This is the kind of attitude that is expected out of the person who is at the helm of the judiciary and legal affairs. It is a prudent approach by the head of the judiciary in a country, especially where the judiciary is often entrusted with the task of interpretation and shaping laws. It is in this spirit of contemplation and self-analysis that he is going to assume the office with. There are high expectations from him. According to him it’s a dichotomy for the judges to balance out isolation and detached sociability. In his own words, in order to refine his view, a judge should show openness towards diverse voices.
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