2.2.

THE JUDICIAL ACCOUNTABLE IN JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE

“The independence of the judiciary is therefore not the property of the judiciary, but a commo
dity to be held by the judiciary in trust for the public. "

Lord Baron Woolf

Independent judiciary is the proper functioning of the Indian democracy. It not only protects the
rights and interests of the people, but it also supports the rule of law by protecting the
fundamental rights. The concept of judicial independence is not defined in our constitution at
that time of constituent assembly drafted it, It is not be understood to mean that independence as
power to judge to act in an arbitrary manner in the manner he or she like. Whenever there are
allegations of misconduct against any judge, in that situation, there will be hue and cry for
initiating action against the erring judge. Judicial independence is not for protecting a judge from
any type of misdeeds, investigation and its condemnation for a valid charge.

Judicial independence ensues that neither no one is above law nor any one is below the law.
power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. To restrain unwarranted exercise
of power, judges are required to be beyond the reach of those persons or authority who may
transfer or remove them due to their lawful verdicts and ,there-fore, the requirement for judicial
independence is not for judges or the judiciary per se, but for the people in a democracy. The
Constitution had upheld the basic feature of federalism when it gave to the judiciary one of the
most important characteristic i.e.- its independence from other organs of State. Dr. B.R.
Ambedkar expressed his concern by way of uttering the following words regarding judiciary:
"There can be no difference of opinion in the House that our judiciary must be both independent
of the executive and must also be competent. And the question is how these two objects can be
secured".

They created a document which reflected an acute awareness on their part that it was incumbent
to entrench the concept of rule of law into the Indian polity, given the possibility of conflicts of
interests arising amongst various sections in a free developing society. Thus, judiciary in India
enjoys a very significant position since it has been made the guardian and custodian of the
Constitution. The main theme of this chapter relates to judicial independence and judicial
accountability and thus, the ideal method is to analyse the role of a judge which is adjudicate the
cases pending or which may be filed before him. So far as their work of judging is concerned, it
is somewhat not easy task, but it is very essential so as to view the attempts to dress up the
political in legal garb and to place them before the court. Some persons are of the view that the
judges are too active in their work while others say that the judges are too self-restrained. He
must be capable to look at himself from outside for analyzing, criticizing and controlling himself.
If a Judge thinks that he knows all and that his each and every opinion is right and proper and, in
a manner,, what is needed in a society. The corruption within the judiciary is not a small issue. It
grows horizontally and vertically. There is no specific forum to submit complaints against the
corrupt judges. The police cannot register a FIR against a judge on the charges of corruption
without the CJI's permission. Indian judiciary is enjoying highest amount of independence, but it
is held least accountable. It does not mean that judiciary can be allowed to be an imperium in
imperia. 'Be you ever so high, law is above you', so in case of any erosion of values in judiciary,
law must come down heavily. Judges should be held accountable since depletion of values in
judiciary is far more deplorable. The independence and impartiality of the judiciary is one of the
hallmarks of the democracy because an impartial and independent judiciary can only protect the
rights of the citizens. Not only this, it can provide equal timely speedy justice without fear or
favor to any person. It is only due to this reason that the Constitution made a provision under
Article 50 intending thereby to achieve an independent judiciary free from all outside pressures.
Giving of unfettered discretion to the executive to decide the philosophy of the judges is to make
the judiciary subservient to the executive. Independent judiciary is a tributary of the doctrine of
separation of powers for cooperation as well as co-ordination in particular amongst and between
the organs of the government. But a realization is getting dawned on the legal luminaries, legal
eagles and the people in general that, all is not well with the higher judiciary of India. The
judiciary needs to be independent of outside influence, particularly of political and economic
entities such as government agencies or industry associations. the need for an independent
judiciary free from the interference of unwarranted political processes has been advocated as the
sine qua non of a democratic society. The confidence in the court depends on the fact that judges
in their personal life as well as while on the bench, but any power derived from the constitution
is necessarily be accountable. The idea of judicial independence shares an inextricable
relationship with judicial ethics of which accountability is one of the dimensions. It is often
thought that the two are antithetical to each other and hence, one cannot exist in the presence of
the other. But as we have already discussed that accountability is a facet of judicial independence
,it cannot be viewed to have a separate existence because it is only in an accountable judiciary
that the faith of the common people still exists in this. Independence of judiciary does not mean
independence in accountability from an outside body. It can be made accountable to a national
judicial commission having vigilance powers against the judges. There is no reason as to why
judiciary cannot be made accountable to such a body. Judicial independence is always in
discordance with the judicial accountability. It relies upon the public approval of the judiciary as
a just and clean institution free from corruption in any manner. It should diligently structure its
enquiries for the purposes of reassuring its faith in public at large. Thus, an ethical stronghold
and might of character alone can nurture judicial accountability and therefore judicial
accountability is a facet of the independence of the judiciary; and the mechanism to enforce
judicial accountability must also preserve the independence of the judiciary.

RELATION BETWEEN JUDICIAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND JUDICIAL

INDEPENDENCE

The Supreme Court in S.P Gupta v. Union of India had held that - "the concept of independence
of the judiciary is a notable concept which inspires the constitutional scheme and constitutes the
foundation on which the edifice of our democratic polity rests. If there is one principle which
runs through the entire fabric of Constitution, it is the principle of the rule of law under the
Constitution, it is the judiciary which is entrusted with the task of keeping every organ of the
state within the limits of the law thereby making the rule of law meaningful and effective.”
Sornnath Chartterjee, the former speaker of Lok Sabha in Justice Ramswami case at one time
said, "We hold the judiciary in high esteem.... Judges are assumed to be men of honesty and
integrity and they discharge their duties and functions with a sense of fairness and independence
without fear or favor ". So, Judges are expected to show highest form of standards in their
conduct. But it is an undoubted fact in India that corruption has infected the Indian Judiciary
also. Corruption brings disrepute to the institution of judiciary, reduces public confidence in
courts, leads also to unpredictability of judicial decisions and undermines effectiveness of the
institution. This in fact strengthens the importance of judicial accountability. Nowhere in the
world is the Supreme Court as powerful as in India. Specially the justice imparting agency
should come out of all suspicions of impropriety and corruption besides brilliance and politeness.
They must have one standard of honesty, justice, integrity and uprightness to remain trustworthy.
Those who preach justice must do justice. Justice must not only be done; it must appear to have
been done. If judiciary wishes to retain public trust, it will have to devise some solutions to this
vexed issue / to take effective action against errant judges. The conduct of the judges should be
free from impropriety, fearless of other power centers - economic or political as well as free from
class bias. The judicial accountability is best guaranteed by an independent judiciary consisting
of judges with integrity and commitment to the rule of law in any democratic country throughout
the world. Independence and accountability in judiciary go hand in hand which are
complementary to each other. To protect the independence of judiciary, accountability of judges
shall have to be ensured.