The Role of Judiciary in India

The interest of the people is further safeguarded by the existence of an independent judiciary. As guardian of the Fundamental Rights and the watchdog of the constitutional provisions, the judiciary has powers to declare void any legislation that in its opinion is violative of the provisions of the Constitution of India.

The power of judicial review ensures that neither the Legislatures nor the Executive can ride rough over the rights and interests of the people of India. In the case relating to the OBCs referred to earlier, the Supreme Court held the legal validity of the order but asked the government to make certain modifications in the original order. The Court wanted that the creamy layer within the OBCs should be excluded from the benefits of reservation. In effect it meant that the benefit of reservation would go only to such people among the OBCs who were not already well placed. The original order of 1990 was modified in 1993 to include the modifications asked for by the Supreme Court.

But for the provision of judicial review, the dispute between those who wanted reservations for OBCs and those who were opposed to it would have continued with harmful consequences for the OBCs and also the rest. The judiciary in India comprises the Supreme Court at the apex. The States have High Courts (in some cases two or more States have a common High Court). Down below there are District Courts and below them the courts at lower levels.

A distinguishing feature of the Indian judiciary is that it is totally independent of the Executive. The judges of the High Courts and the Supreme Court are appointed by the President in consultation with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and on the advice of the Prime Minister. The system has functioned well all these years. There are no instances where the executive could have tinkered with the functioning of the judiciary.

The Constitution provides that a judge of the Supreme Court or the High Court cannot be removed by any executive authority. He can only be removed by impeachment. The process of impeachment is parallel to the process prescribed for the impeachment of the President. There has been no case so far where a judge was removed by impeachment.

Any citizen of India can approach the judiciary if he feels any of his fundamental right has been infringed by an act of the executive. Courts can also be approached through Public Interest Litigations. The courts have thus been acting a braking force that comes into action any time the executive tries to misuse its powers.

While the people of India have their reservations about the fairness of government actions, they have complete faith in the judiciary. This is good for the health and survival of democracy in the country.