What Is An Independent Judiciary - IPleaders
What Is An Independent Judiciary - IPleaders
What Is An Independent Judiciary - IPleaders
This article has been written by Ishani Samajpati, pursuing B.A. LL.B. (Hons) under the
University of Calcutta. The article offers a detailed discussion on the concept of an
independent judiciary in general. Further, it is also discussed whether or not the Indian
judiciary is truly independent. In short, the article exhaustively covers both the general and
Indian perspectives of an independent judiciary.
Table of Contents
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1. Introduction
2. Concept of an independent judiciary
3. Types of judicial independence
3.1. Institutional or functional judicial independence
3.2. Decisional judicial independence
4. Historical background of an independent judiciary
4.1. Independent judiciary in an Indian perspective
5. International instruments to secure the independence of a judiciary
5.1. UN Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary (1985)
5.1.1. Independence of a judiciary
5.1.2. Freedom of expression and association
5.1.3. Qualifications, selection and training of the judicial officers
5.1.4. Conditions of service and tenure
5.1.5. Professional secrecy and immunity
5.1.6. Discipline, suspension and removal
5.2. Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct (2002)
5.3. Latimer House Principles
6. The necessity of an independent judiciary
7. Judicial independence in India
7.1. Security of the tenure of judges
7.2. Salaries and Allowances of judges
7.3. Powers and Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court
7.4. No discussion of judicial conduct in the Parliament or state legislatures
7.5. Contempt of Court
7.6. Complete independence of the judiciary
8. Challenges to judicial independence in India
8.1. Possible biases
8.2. Judicial corruption
8.3. Influence of political parties
8.4. Security issues while discharging judicial duty
8.5. Interference of other two organs
8.6. Lack of transparency in the appointment of judges
8.7. Influence on the judiciary from powerful quarters
9. Conclusion
10. References
Introduction
“There can be no difference of opinion in the House that our judiciary must both be
independent of the executive and must also be competent in itself. And the question is how
these two objects could be secured.” – Dr B.R. Ambedkar
Judiciary is the system of courts of law that helps to ensure the supremacy of laws in any
nation. It plays a crucial role in the functioning of democracy.
Under the doctrine of separation of powers, the judiciary is one of the principal organs of
the state along with the executive and legislature. While the legislature and executive is
concerned with making the law and executing them respectively, the judiciary supervises
whether the law is properly followed and also interprets and applies the laws in various legal
issues. The separation of power further dictates that the judiciary should act independently
without any outside influences.
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In other words, an independent judiciary is a political principle that states that the judiciary
should interpret the law and the Constitution of the respective country while being
completely free from the influence of other branches of government, political parties or
public opinion or any partisan interests.
A classic example in this regard can be a landmark judgment delivered by the US Supreme
Court in the case of United States v. Nixon (1974), a unanimous decision was passed
against President Richard Nixon, asking him to submit the Watergate Trial Tapes, which
upheld the principle of Rule of Law and subsequently reminded that even the US President
is not above the law.
Similarly, in an Indian case of State Of U.P v. Raj Narain & Ors (1975), the Allahabad High
Court declared the then Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi guilty of electoral malpractices
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The system of separation of powers has been adopted by the USA to ensure an independent
judiciary. But in cases of constitutional systems based on Parliamentary sovereignty such as
in the UK or India, the independence of the judiciary is mostly ensured by means of judicial
supremacy.
In India, to ensure the independence of the judiciary, judges in the High Courts, as well as
the Supreme Court, are appointed with very little interference from other branches of the
government. Once appointed, it is also very difficult to remove a judge.
An independent judiciary is the sine qua non to ensure the vibrant democratic spirit of any
nation.
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It also includes the fact that a judge should decide a case based on the concerning facts
and laws only without being affected by the opinions of the media, politics, pressure or
interference or influence from any quarter and fear of any penalty in their own careers.
i) Substantive judicial independence which means that while deciding a case and exercising
judicial powers conferred upon them, the individual judges are not subordinate to any other
authority but are the law themselves.
ii) Personal judicial independence refers to the fact that judges should be impartial or
neutral without any influence or fear and they should decide the case based on the facts of
the case and existing laws.
Before the enactment of the Act of Settlement, 1701, the Judges used to hold the position
as per the decision of the ruler. Like any other civil servant, the judges could also be
dismissed by the Crown when decided. Thus, the judges had to act subordinately to the
executive and legislature. This led the judges to favour the interests of the royal family and
other influential persons. The judicial independence was secured by the Act which formally
recognised the principles of security of judicial tenure, formal mechanisms for the
impeachment of a judge etc. Because of the Act of Settlement, 1701, it has been possible
to impeach a senior judge from office through an official address to the Queen after
agreement by both Houses of Parliament.
Other common law countries such as Canada and Australia also adopted the British model
of an independent judiciary.
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The Act of Settlement was used as a foundation by the Founding Fathers of the Constitution
of the United States to formulate Article III of the US Constitution, which acts as a base of
American judicial independence.
According to Justice S. S. Dhavan of Allahabad High Court in the essay “Judicial System in
Ancient India”, “India has the oldest judiciary in the world. No other judicial system has a
more ancient or exalted pedigree.”
Smritis in Ancient India stressed the need for an effective judicial system to carry out
justice according to dharma. It also emphasised that the primary duty of the King was to
administer the rule of law and protect the people and punish the wrongdoer. Apart from
that, the Arthashastra by Kautilya also talked about the principles of judicial independence.
Ancient jurists like Manu, Yajnavalkya, Katyayana, Brihaspati etc, and later, commentators
like Vachaspati Misra also stressed the fact that the judiciary should be independent and
judges should solely decide a case based on facts and laws.
The idea behind the adoption of the principles was to provide a framework to administer an
independent judiciary in every country and enable a judge to do his duty impartially by
following the principles.
The principles emphasised the selection, appointment, conduct and training of the judges
since they play the most important role in running the judiciary.
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Following are the basic principles which were formulated to guide the governments of the
member states to secure and promote an independent judiciary:
Independence of a judiciary
1. The State should guarantee the independence of the judiciary by enshrining the following
in its Constitution and the laws of that country. The duty of the government is to ensure
an independent judiciary by removing all interference from the organs of the
government.
2. On the other hand, the judiciary should observe all the cases based on facts and the
concerning laws relating to the cases without being influenced. The jurisdiction of the
judiciary is extended up to all judicial matters and matters contain serious questions of
law.
3. There should not be any kind of unsolicited interference in the judiciary and judicial
decisions should not be subjected to random revision. However, an individual can always
approach judicial reviews and also can appeal to reduce any sentences ordered by the
judicial officers.
4. Every member of society should have the right to approach the judiciary whenever
required.
5. An independent judiciary should ensure that the judicial proceedings are being performed
without any prejudices and biases toward any of the litigant parties.
6. The Member state should ensure that the judiciary has enough resources to run its
function properly.
The judges are also free to form any kind of association with fellow judges for representing
their own interests as well as promotion of judicial independence.
The selection of judicial officers should not be done following any method with “improper
motives”.
The judges should be selected based on their qualifications and should not be discriminated
against on any grounds such as “race, colour, sex, religion, political or other opinions,
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national or social origin, property, birth or status”. However, the candidate should be a
citizen of the concerned country and this requirement should not be termed discriminatory.
The appointed or elected judges should have a particular retirement age or the end of the
term as a judge.
The promotion of the judges should be based on the ability, integrity and experience of an
individual judge instead of any other preferences.
The internal judicial administration should decide the types of cases to be assigned to a
particular judge.
Judges, while exercising their judicial powers, should have personal immunity from civil
suits for monetary damages. However, any disciplinary proceedings, right to appeal or the
compensation provided by the State are not subject to this.
A judge should only be suspended or removed in accordance with proper judicial conduct
only if he is found unfit to discharge concerned duties.
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While carrying out their judicial function, judges must be free from any improper influence.
Such influence can come from any number of sources such as the executive, legislators, the
media as well as the particular litigants, especially the particular pressure groups.
The responsibilities of individual judges have increased with the growth in the role of the
government in our daily lives over the last century. Disputes between the citizens and the
state have also increased together with the growth of governmental functions. Now, the
judiciary, apart from providing justice, also protects the common citizen from the unlawful
acts of the government. Thus, the requirement for an independent judiciary has increased
ever since.
An independent and impartial judiciary is one of the cornerstones of democracy and this
principle was endorsed by the UN General Assembly in 1985 and 1990.
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However, the age of retirement of the High Court judges was proposed to increase to 65
through the Constitution (114th Amendment) Bill, 2010. But it was not passed.
Article 124(2) lays down that the President should appoint every Supreme Court judge and
they will remain in office until the age of sixty-five years.
For the appointment of the judges in the High Court and Supreme Court, the President shall
consult the Chief Justice of India and here consultation means concurrence and this was
held in the case of Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association v. Union of India
(1993), also known as the Second Judges Case (1993).
In the cases of judges in the Supreme Court, their salaries are provided by the Consolidated
Fund of India and the judges of the High Court of the respective states are paid by the
consolidated fund of that state.
Contempt of Court
Under Article 129, the Supreme Court has the power to punish for contempt of itself.
Similarly, Article 215 confers the power to the High Court to punish for contempt.
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One of the most recent and landmark cases regarding judicial independence is the case of
Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association and another v. Union of India (2015), the
constitutionality of the Constitution (99th Amendment Act), 2014 was challenged by the
Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association. The amendment sought to form the
National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC) to appoint judges. National Judicial
Appointment Commission would have been a body containing the following six persons:
The Union Minister of Law and Justice also acting ex-officio; and
Two eminent persons are to be selected by a committee consisting of the Chief Justice of
India, Prime Minister of India, and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha for a period of
three years once only. One such person would be from the Scheduled Castes or
Scheduled Tribes or OBC or minority communities or a woman.
The Supreme Court held it unconstitutional and struck it down since the amendment is a
threat to the independence of the judiciary.
Possible biases
It is expected that the judges should be completely impartial and free from biases while
declaring any verdict. The maxim Nemo Judex In Causa Sua originated from this idea. It
means ‘no one should judge their own cause’ because this is the main reason for biases.
However, there are mostly three types of biases of the individual judge which may hamper
the impartiality of judicial proceedings. The biases are listed below as follows:
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Personal bias in the judiciary is the bias created due to a relation (friendship, grievance
or egoism) between both the parties, adversely affecting the verdict. In the case of
Nanjundappa (B.N.) vs State Of Mysore (1964), the Karnataka High Court declared that
while appealing a case on the ground of personal bias, it must be proved effectively.
The issue of pecuniary bias arises when the deciding party has any kind of monetary or
financial interest in the subject matter of the dispute.
Subject matter bias arises when the authority is directly involved in the subject matter of
the case. In the case of M/s Chetak Construction Ltd. v. Om Prakash & Ors. (1998), the
court set aside an impugned order and assigned the appeal to another judge to decide
without being influenced.
Judicial corruption
Judicial corruption is the exertion of inappropriate influences and situations which affect the
impartiality and neutrality of the judicial system. An increase in judicial corruption leads the
general public to lose their trust in the judiciary and weakens public morale.
According to the Central government, over 1600 complaints have been received on the
functioning of the judiciary, some of which are on judicial corruption.
Life-threatening situations faced by individual judges for mere discharging of judicial duties
are not uncommon. There have been several instances where a judge has been murdered in
open daylight for passing an unfavourable verdict.
In 1989, Justice Neelkanth Ganjoo, a judge in the Jammu & Kashmir High Court was
assassinated by militants. In 2021, Additional Sessions Judge Uttam Anand in Jharkhand
was brutally murdered in an open street. The Supreme Court took suo moto cognisance of
the issue of the safety of judges and the persons involved in his murder have been awarded
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rigorous life imprisonment till death. These incidents raise serious concerns regarding the
safety of the judges while performing their judicial duties.
Conclusion
Judiciary is often termed as a ‘fragile bastion’ as there are apprehensions that the
impartiality and neutrality of the institution and the personal integrity of an individual judge
may crumble owing to the outside influences and pressures it has to face. An independent
judiciary is the base of a thriving democracy and acts as the last recourse for people to
secure justice. It is important to remember that the ultimate responsibility to maintain the
independence of the judiciary is on the shoulders of the individual judges.
At the end of the day, it must be remembered that the independence of the judiciary is an
indispensable requirement to uphold the rule of law. That is why the government and media
rhetoric that aims to villainise the judiciary should be of great concern.
Despite all the existing flaws in the judicial system, it serves as the last recourse for
common people to seek justice. Without an independent judiciary, a democracy cannot
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function properly since there will be no institution to protect and supervise the rights of the
common people. Hence, the independence of the judiciary must be upheld at any cost.
References
https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/basic-principles-
independence-judiciary
https://www.judiciary.uk/about-the-judiciary/the-judiciary-the-government-and-the-
constitution/jud-acc-ind/independence/
https://mckinneylaw.iu.edu/iiclr/pdf/vol10p245.pdf
https://www.allahabadhighcourt.in/event/TheIndianJudicialSystem_SSDhavan.html
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-edit-page/blurring-lines-of-separation-
judiciary-must-remain-independent-to-safeguard-peoples-constitutional-protections/
https://rdi.org/defining-democracy-independent-judiciary/
https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-1681-independence-of-the-judiciary-a-
constitutional-response.html
https://theprint.in/opinion/indian-politicians-get-favourable-outcome-in-courts-when-
party-is-in-power-data-shows/283103/
https://www.prsindia.org/theprsblog/can-supreme-court-ask-government-frame-law
https://thewire.in/law/restoring-public-trust-in-the-indian-judiciary-calls-for-more-
scrutiny-not-less
https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2020/05/arpit-richhariya-indian-judiciary-
independence/
https://www.ideasforindia.in/topics/governance/the-politics-of-post-retirement-
appointments-corruption-in-the-supreme-court.html
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