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Lawyers, Prashant Bhushan slam Modi for 'five-star activists' remark

Judiciary, legislature need to coordinate: CJI

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said judges must not fear the reaction of five-star activists while discharging their “divine” duty of dispensing justice as per the Constitution and law.“The judiciary is not as fearless today as it used to be ten years back. Are five-star activists not driving the judiciary? Are they not attempting to do so? Judges fear what the reaction of five-star activists would be when they render justice as per law and as per Constitution,” Modi said in his address to judges of the Supreme Court and chief justices of high courts in the presence of chief ministers.Chief Justice of India H L Dattu rebutted the PM’s perception and told TOI, “Judges today are as fearless as they ever were.”Inaugurating the conference of chief justices and CMs for finding solutions to problems faced by the judiciary, the PM said, “It is not difficult to dispense justice as per Constitution and law. But while doing so, judges must differentiate between perception (created by social activists) and fact.”Modi’s comments came in the wake of Justice Dattu’s decision to take off two judges – Justices S J Mukhopadhaya and N V Ramana – from hearing activist Teesta Setalvad’s petition seeking a directive to Gujarat Police not to arrest her for alleged embezzlement of funds meant for riot victims. Setalvad’s counsel had sought replacement of the judges by pointing out that they had invited the PM for the weddings of their children.Earlier, Modi himself was in the eye of a Supreme Court case for three years. With the help of Setalvad, Jakia Jafri, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed by a rioting mob in 2002, had filed a petition accusing Modi, who was Gujarat CM then, of deliberately failing in his constitutional duty to protect innocent minorities during the 2002 riots. After probing her complaint, an SC-appointed special investigating team had given Modi a clean chit.Recently, Gujarat Police wanted to arrest Setalvad accusing her of misusing donations received by her NGOs for welfare of 2002 riot victims. It had alleged that she had spent the money on purchase of luxury personal items and payment of her credit card bills. She had denied the allegations. The SC has ordered stay on her arrest and referred her anticipatory bail plea to a three-judge bench.The PM also said other organs of governance – legislature and executive – had pronounced checks and balances. Such a system was not strong in the judiciary. He said without such a system, “the DNA of the judiciary could go bad and hit the supreme faith of commoners in the courts”.“We as representatives of people are subjected to intense scrutiny by media 24x7. News which once found it difficult to get into gossip columns is today’s breaking news. Apart from media scrutiny, there are institutional checks like Election Commission, RTI and soon the Lokpal. These are necessary to keep us on the right track,” Modi said.“Judges do not have that privilege. You don’t even hear criticism. Those who are given death sentence also come out and say they have faith in judiciary. That is because judiciary through its tradition and character has created immense faith in the common people. This faith has evolved, not injected. But how do we keep it intact and make it more impressive?“Judiciary must have a strong internal check system, in which government and politicians should have absolutely no say whatsoever. If you do not put in that system, then there is a danger of the DNA going bad which would hit the faith people unconditionally repose in judiciary. Moreover, if legislature goes wrong, it can be corrected by judiciary. What will happen if judiciary goes wrong? There will be nothing left,” the PM said.Justice Dattu told reporters that the SC and HCs had strong in-house mechanisms to keep a check on misconduct of judges and added that it was working well and was closely monitored by the CJI and chief justices of various high courts.Quoting Bhishma from the Mahabharata, Modi said, “Respect for law is the key to unity of the country. Judiciary is getting powerful because they discharge a divine duty. But it must also strive for perfection.”The PM said the NDA government was committed to provide necessary funds for building infrastructure and creating more posts of judges to deal with arrears. However, he also said the alternative dispute resolution mechanism was the most attractive method for the poor, who could no longer afford the litigation cost in courts.He requested the CJI and judges of the Supreme Court to discuss whether hundreds of tribunals set up to lessen the work load of HCs had yielded any tangible results.The PM also said obsolete laws must be scrapped as soon as possible. “I have got Cabinet approval to do away with 700-odd obsolete laws. But I am told there are another 1,700-odd. My resolve to scrap an obsolete law a day in the five-year term will be fulfilled.”He said increasing use of information technology in judiciary was key to speeding up justice dispensation process and praised Allahabad HC chief justice D Y Chandrachud for “excellent work” in digitizing court records.CJI Dattu said judiciary was not averse to full computerization, but asked whether it would leave out certain sections of the population which were still computer illiterate.He also expressed concern over the low salary of judges, which is equivalent to the first salary drawn by students graduating from national law schools. “If the youth do not see judiciary as a financially viable career, then they will shy away from becoming judges. And that is the danger,” he said.