JUDICIAL ACCOUNTABILITY IN INDIA: EXPLORING THE LIMITS OF JUDICIAL POWER
- PRATEEK DAHIYA
Abstract: The word ‘accountable’ as defined in the Oxford dictionary means ‘responsible for your own decisions or actions and expected to explain them when asked.’ Accountability is the sine quo non of democracy. Transparency facilitates accountability. The Judiciary, an essential wing of the state, is also accountable. The independency and accountability of the Judiciary is one of the hallmarks of the democratic system of the government. The Judiciary has cast a sacrosanct spell around it, such that the Judges were considered demi-gods who could not commit any worry, their decision were final and unquestionable. The Judges are public servant in law need to be treated as such other public servants. They are not immune from resultant action under the constitution. It is hard to turn blind eyes from what is happening and the growing corrupt nature of the Judges. It was soon realized that
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Independence of the Judiciary
Independence is a bulwark of rule of law . An independent judiciary can be stated to be the cornerstone of a democracy . In Union of India v. Sankalchand Himmatlal Seth , Utwallia J. called the Judiciary as a ‘watching tower above all the big structures of the other limbs of the state from which it keeps a watch like a sentinel on the functions of the other limbs…’. Therefore, the presence of a strong, independent and efficient judiciary, both in letter and spirit, is an absolute necessity to achieve the mandatory goals imbedded in the constitution.
If law is to applied equally to all citizens in the country, then it is equally important that the judges should be subject to threats and pressure from litigants, including society’s criminal element. Independence of Judiciary is a recognized principle adopted by most of the democratic countries. The history of Judicial Independence in United Kingdom, United States and India is as