When judges claim that Judiciary is about politics, it becomes a laughing matter even for the most common street man. Famously said by the famous Law Minister and eminent scholar, Shanti Bhushan, so many of the former CJI and judges have failed “The caesar’s wife” test.
Judges and their collegium are most intimately connected to the wave of the politics of a country. Imagine George W Bush vs Al Gore. The US Supreme Court decided for George Bush and it’s an open secret that Supreme Court decision was based on opinions of the judges, appointed by his father George H Bush senior. Barack Obama succeeded once and failed once in appointing liberal US Supreme Court judges. Donald Trump will change landscape of US judiciary for decades to come by tilting it to right of center long after he will be gone from the White House.
Conflicts and hatred among judges on political lines are known well in India also. But impeachments have been very rare to remove a corrupt or incompetent judge. Whispers in legal alleys are prevalent that some judges have their judgments written by other people. Most judges will refrain from giving against sentiments of a ruling party. They see lush appointments after retirement in posts of administration.
The collegium system of judicial selection started by past governments (Rao) had its own political reasons. On the surface it gave freedom to judges to appoint but a pocket veto is always used when a prospective judge does not please the ruling government.
In conclusion, be it India or any democracy in the world, appointment of a judge is totally political issue, and nothing is wrong about it.
Its wrong only to say that judges are above politics, judges are above corruption. Judges are influenced by executive branch of the government. Executive branch, be it US President, or Indian Prime Minister, is elected by the people of the land. So judges are perfectly a part of any political system.
We should stop feeling guilty about judiciary & executive mix up. They are independent but interdependent.
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