In the rough and tumble of politics, defections mar democracy and cast a shadow on the constitutional morality of politicians, and often end up in courts. Can political will be mustered to stem the malaise?
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant relief to Swami Om's associate Mukesh Jain from filing cost of Rs five lakh imposed on him over a Public Interest Litigation filed by him, challenging the appointment of Justice Dipak Misra as the Chief Justice of India.
The inauguration of the second International Conference on Mediation as done today by Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. Former Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Delhi University VC Dr PC Joshi also spoke on the occasion.
The sedition law, under which Gandhi and his freedom fighters were jailed, has been reviled and condemned as anachronistic and an imperialist hand-me-down. It has also been challenged in court. But it still flourishes.
Even as the Covid conflagration rages and the nation hurtles towards an economic crisis of unfathomable proportions, controversies surrounding the judiciary continue to compete for the headlines as they have been doing for the last several weeks.
Grievances expressed against judges and judgments are not necessarily without merit. But they can be pursued without bringing the CJI and the judiciary into public disrepute, thereby weakening its popular base of support in these troubled times when there is need for judicial unity.
In two recent cases—President Donald Trump’s tax returns and staying the cancellation of an Obama programme on immigration—the US Supreme Court stood its ground and though in a situation of subpoena by the Congress, it upheld the separation of powers doctrine