The Appointment System of Judges be made Transparent to Checkmate Corruption

 

According to some of the news channels a mountain of currency notes of not less than Rs nine crore were found in the residence of a judge of the Delhi High Court. It is alarmingly shocking, to say the least. It is common knowledge that many judges have been taking facilities from some people during their foreign travels but to find such a big pile of notes from the residence of any judge has been unheard of.

It is a clear case of financial corruption. Quid pro quo cannot be ruled out. Who has given this money for which for obtaining favourable order in which case can be ascertained only after thorough enquiry? If the fire had not broken out in the house of the judge in his absence, possibly secret would not have tumbled out.  What is all the more shocking is that why instead of divesting him of his works pending investigation, he has been transferred to his parent High Court of Allahabad. Indeed, High Court judges cannot be suspended in the conventional sense. However, they can be removed under specific provisions of the Constitution. Articles 124(4) and 217 outline the process for removing judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, respectively.

The collegium system has always been under the cloud but the constitution bench of five judges did a great disservice by setting aside the NJAC, which was passed unanimously by the Parliament and ratified by 14 State Assemblies. Except for the abstention of Shri Ram Jethmalani, both houses of Parliament were of the unanimous view that that Collegium must be given go by. Only Justice Chelameswar gave his dissenting opinion in the NJAC case.

There is no gainsaying that a transparent system must be evolved for the appointment of High Court and Supreme Court judges to instil the confidence of the public in the judiciary.

Promote Hindi to make it a true National language

How sad it is to see some Parliamentarians and agents of some political parties cutting very sorry figures, who cry from the house tops for the protection and preservation of the constitution of India? They even carry the small sized copy of the constitution to exhibit their loyalty to it.  But in their real life they do contrary to the spirit of the Constitution. Let us take the question of Hindi. Article 351 of the Constitution states that ‘the Union must promote the spread of the Hindi language and to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India. It also emphasizes that Hindi should be enriched by incorporating elements from other Indian languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, thereby drawing from the rich and diverse linguistic heritage of India. The goal is to make Hindi a robust language capable of representing the multifaceted culture of the country while ensuring it doesn't replace other regional languages.

    Why this hullaballoo against Hindi by some politicians, particularly belonging to the DMK of Tamil Nadu? This reflects their colossal ignorance of the constitution and their inability to govern the state of Tamil Nadu, where they have come to power by playing on the sentimental issue of language. These politicians forget the fact that people cannot be fooled any longer by creating the fear of imposition of Hindi. Presently, if you travel to any part of Tamil Nadu, you can do your work in Hindi or a simple Urdu. All three parts of Article 343 of the Indian Constitution further declare that Hindi in Devanagari script as the official language of the Union.

  Article 343(2): States that for fifteen years from the commencement of the Constitution (i.e., until January 25, 1965), the English language shall continue to be used for official purposes of the Union.

      Article 343(3): Permits Parliament to provide by law for the continued use of English after the said period of fifteen years.

This article was a significant move in establishing Hindi as the official language. What is surprising is that instead of dispensing with the dependence of English, these politicians fight against Hindi. 

How pathetic it is to see the deplorable condition of Hindi in the Supreme Court of India and many High Courts of the country, where neither judges speak, nor the advocates argue their cases in English. Knowledgeable people make fun of the English that is written and spoken in these temples of justice. Many times, even the judges of the Supreme Court have cursed the incomprehensible judgments of the High Court judges. Several times the Supreme Court has referred them back to the concerned High Courts. The book ‘Courts and Their Judgments’ written by journalist Arun Shourie, exposes the poor knowledge of English of the judges of the High Courts. This buttresses the importance of Hindi, which should be made compulsory for all judicial officers and judges. Therefore, those opposing Hindi will have to eat humble pie.