A welcome cleansing
Recent measures taken by the Supreme Court to allow investigation into cases of judicial corruption will set a very good precedent and strengthen the legal system
India’s vibrant democracy is a miracle. The secret of this is the role, reputation and credibility of four key institutions among the public. They are the judiciary, the election commission, the armed forces and the media. Each one of them has a critical role that specially contributes to public life and governance.
The continuous erosion of values in public life and the all-pervasive corruption have made many of our honest patriotic citizens wonder whether there is any hope for improvement in the quality of governance in our country. Law-breakers become law-makers today. How can they ever be committed to eradicating corruption or ensuring good governance?
Every citizen is familiar and many have had a first hand experience of extensive corruption in the bureaucracy. The judiciary is no exception. After all, our judges also come from the same society as our politicians, businessmen, bureaucrats and professionals. The Centre for Media Studies, in its annual report on corruption in public offices, has rated the subordinate judiciary as one of the more corrupt organisations that interact with the common man. Nevertheless, higher judiciary has by and large enjoyed a lot of respect and retained the credibility of citizens. It has played a key role in critical moments of our post-Independence history. The only exception was the period of Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi (1975-77). Even in that period, there were courageous judges like Justice H R Khanna who upheld the best standards of idealism and justice. On the whole, the judiciary has acted as a major force to ensure that the basic structure of the Constitution, including the fundamental rights, is not compromised by the legislature under the pressure of political exigencies. It has also strived to bring in greater transparency in public life. The 2004 judgement of the Supreme Court that made it mandatory for election candidates to the state legislatures or Parliament disclose their criminal record and details of their assets and educational qualification, is an example. Nevertheless, there have been rumours about corruption in the higher judiciary also. A former Chief Justice of India has gone on record to say that he could not vouch for the integrity of about 20 per cent of the higher judiciary.
A hat-trick of corruption scandals in the higher judiciary had recently hit headlines. The first is the case of two judges of Punjab and Haryana High Court, in what has been called the ‘cash through courier scandal. The second is the Rs 23 crore embezzlement scandal involving the provident funds of employees of the Ghaziabad Court. In this case, the high court judges of UP and the subordinate judiciary are said to be involved. The third is the case of Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta high court. When he was an advocate, before his elevation to the Bench, he allegedly placed Rs 32 lakh deposited by the State Bank of India in an arbitration case in his personal account and did not surrender the amount until much later. This case had forced the Chief Justice of India to recommend his impeachment to Parliament.
One can take a cynical view that our public life is beyond redemption and no one is beyond corruption. Nevertheless, the initiatives taken by the Chief Justice and the Supreme Court send a very positive message. This shows that a welcome cleansing process in a key institution of our democracy has been initiated. Justice Soumitra Sen’s case will only be the second case of impeachment of a judge in our post-Independence history. Permission given by the Chief Justice to the CBI to investigate allegations against judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court removes a major hurdle in conducting even preliminary investigation into corruption charges against the judiciary. Thanks to the Contempt of Court Act of 1971, truth is no defence. All this makes speedy investigation into corruption charges and greater transparency difficult as far as the judiciary is concerned.
We can hope that the recent measures taken by the Supreme Court in the cases of judicial corruption will set a good precedent to strengthen a very critically important limb of governance. After all, as the Bible says, out of evil cometh good.
Corruption scandals in the higher judiciary have recently hit headlines
In the last decade, N Vittal, the former CVC, emerged as the voice of our collective conscience. This is his weekly take on public life in India