A NEWS report on Tuesday said a Division Bench of the High Court Division on Monday declined to hear an appeal on a money suit as a minister had phoned one or both of the judges about the case seeking a favour for a party. The Bench had referred the case to the Chief Justice for his appropriate order. The matter was disclosed by the senior judge of the Bench to lawyers appearing for the appeal that they could not hear the matter. The report quoted the court officials as saying that the case would be assigned to any other Bench by the Chief Justice to properly dispose of. As we see, a minister’s phone call to the judges is not so surprising in our system of governance, so far as the lower judiciary is concerned. But to phone up the judges of the Supreme Court is another matter. Especially in criminal cases, it is heard frequently that the ministers particularly of Home or others phone up seeking favourable consideration in pending matters. This is how bail business for getting bail has grown up to the knowledge of all. The victims have to pay here, there and everywhere.The disclosure by the judges of the Supreme Court has been quite blunt but the incident deserve to be seen as good for the image of the higher judiciary. But we have to condemn politicisation of the judiciary that has encouraged such phone calls. The ministers think politically appointed judges are their party followers.There is a widely held view that the lower courts are more exposed to intervention from the government ministers, MPs and such other party men to influence orders like the granting or not granting of bails to political persons. They even influence, as most people believe, the judgments in critical political cases. The minister’s reported request to the High Court Bench has thus brought to public attention the most important question of ensuring the independence of the judiciary.The judges of the lower judiciary, it is widely known among the lawyers, live under threat of transfer though such transfers are made with the approval of the Chief Justice after separation of the judiciary but rules pose no difficulty. When a minister is known or seen to influence the judiciary it increases corruption in the judiciary and corruption is quite open and rampant. No wonder the people are most helpless before the lower judiciary and they come to the Supreme Court with small matters knowing how difficult and how corrupt the system has been made by the government itself. The problem is our ministers do not think that the rule of law does not mean the rule of ministers or the powerful ones.The government is not aware that no civil government can survive without respecting the rule of law and independence of the judiciary. The exposure may be helpful if other judges feel strong enough to maintain the dignity of the judiciary. When the judges are not brave to protect their independence, the system of justice ends and violence prevails.
