Topic: Structure, organization and functioning of the Judiciary
2) While the Judicial system of the country preaches people transparency, it thyself has remained as the country’s most opaque institution. Critically analyse under the recent controversies surrounding it. Do you think it requires an institutional reset ?(250 words)
Why this question:
Off-late the SC has been making headlines more for controversies than for its position of giving diktats. The current Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, just like his two immediate predecessors, Justices Dipak Misra and JS Kheharis dealing with a crippling controversy and many such errors have been pointed out around the judicial system that highlights the opaqueness of the system.
Demand of the question:
This question seeks to examine the issues surrounding the judicial system of the country, the causes and consequences associated with it. One should also suggest what needs to be done to overcome such a state of affairs in the country’s Judicial system.
Directive word:
Critically analyze – When asked to analyze, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, one needs to look at the good and bad of the topic and give a fair judgement.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction
Start with brief introduction of the background of events surrounding the Judicial system.
Body
Discuss the following points in detail:
- What are the issues surrounding the system that makes it opaque?
Corruption.
- Lack of transparency (particularly in the appointment of judges).
- abuse of the office of the Chief Justice of India.
- fragility of judicial independence
- Under trials of the accused.
- Lack of information and interaction among people and courts.
- What needs to be done ?
- Discuss the need for institutional reset; what should it be like?
- Conclude by re-asserting the necessity of judicial system remaining transparent.
Conclusion
It is not enough to assert that judicial independence will be at risk whenever any matter related to the judiciary is sought to be debated. Instead, mechanisms must be evolved to ensure due process , where protecting judicial independence is one of the factors involved while ensuring transparency is another.
