Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, April 30: N V Ramana, the Chief Justice of India (CJI), said today that the Constitution establishes a division of powers among the state’s three institutions, and that citizens should be cognizant of the ‘Lakshman Rekha’ when doing their duties.
The CJI was speaking at the Joint Conference of Chief Ministers of States and Chief Justices of High Courts’ inaugural session at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday morning.
“Constitution provides separation of power among three organs and the harmonious function between three organs strengthens democracy. While discharging our duty, we should be mindful of Lakshman Rekha,” said the CJI.
Ramana was particularly concerned about the abuse of Public Interest Litigations (PIL).
He claims that PILs have evolved into “Personal Interest Litigation” and are now used to settle personal scores, and that courts are therefore wary of allowing them to proceed.
Governments’ purposeful inaction in the face of judicial rulings, according to the CJI, is bad for democracy’s health.
He also argued forcefully for the use of native languages in courts.
On vacancies and the backlog, CJI Ramana said it would be difficult to make a dent in the backlog without quick appointments to replace significant vacancies in judicial officer positions and High Court judges.
According to the CJI, there are more than 4 crore cases outstanding in trial courts, which are staffed by roughly 24,000 judicial officials. “As a result, we have 20 judges per million people, which is insufficient to deal with the rising trend of litigation,” he added, noting that governments are the most litigious.
He further added, “The law should be made after thorough debates and discussions incorporating the needs and aspirations of concerned people. Often there’s litigation because of the non-performance of Executives and inaction of Legislatures which are avoidable.”
