Supreme Court Justice B.V. Nagarathna has made an important comment. He has said that the court’s decisions should not be rejected just because the judge who wrote them has changed or has left the post. He made this comment while expressing concern over recent incidents of overturning of decisions by subsequent benches of the apex court.
Justice had attended a program in Haryana
Justice Nagarathna O.P. in Sonipat, Haryana on Saturday. Jindal was speaking at an international conference on the independence of the judiciary at the Global University. He said that an evolving understanding of judicial independence requires that “our legal system assures” that a judge’s judgment stands the test of time, because it is “written in ink, not sand.”
He said, “It is the duty of the legal fraternity and all participants in the administrative structure to respect a decision, raise objections only in accordance with the conventions enshrined in law and not dismiss it merely because faces have changed.”
Court orders in some such cases which were overturned
The top court had earlier this month withdrawn its order passed in May, which had banned retrospective environmental clearance for development projects. The then Chief Justice of India B.R. A bench headed by Gavai on November 28 accepted the review petition of a builder association and lifted the ban on retrospective environmental clearance for various projects.
Similarly, in September the apex court upheld steel major JSW Steel Ltd’s over Rs 19,000 crore bid to acquire Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd (BPSL) through the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP). For this, the court reversed its order of May, in which the liquidation of the company was directed.
‘Judiciary is an integral part of the governance of the country’
Justice Nagarathna, currently the only woman judge in the Supreme Court, said the judiciary is an integral part of the governance of the country.
The independence of the judiciary remains safe on these grounds
He said, “With liberalized rules, broad powers and diverse remedies, the Court is often asked to decide on a whole range of questions related to the future of Indians. Today, the judiciary is considered to be an institution that has the responsibility to ensure that the rule of law is followed in every situation, whenever it is violated.
Justice Nagarathna said that the independence of the judiciary is protected not only by the decisions written by the judges, but also by their personal conduct.