DNA Edit: Transparency, My Lords!

The high-octane drama at the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday has left the nation stunned. The rapid twists and turns inside and outside the court, culminating in a five-judge bench headed by CJI Dipak Misra annulling an order passed on Thursday by a smaller bench headed by the second seniormost judge, Justice Jasti Chelameswar, will only hurt the prestige of the institution of judiciary.

By asserting his authority as the “Master of Rolls”, who has the power to assign cases and direct composition of benches, the CJI set aside the order for setting up of a five-judge Constitution bench to hear an alleged bribery case involving a former Orissa High Court judge, a case where, according to the petitioners, names of some apex court judges have cropped up.

For CJI Misra, a 1998 order of the apex court has empowered him to assign cases to different benches. However, this battle reflects deep schisms within the topmost judiciary. The issue at hand — charges of bribery against a section of the judiciary — is grave, and now with this sudden development, the focus seems to have shifted to what can be termed as a territorial battle. It serves no one, least of all the SC.

On Thursday, the two-judge bench comprising Justices Jasti Chelameswar and Abdul Nazeer had shown a willingness to clean up the house, so to speak, instead of sweeping the corruption allegations under the carpet. It was a courageous move — one that was supposed to have gone a long way in shoring up public confidence in the judiciary since it emphasised on fair play and transparency. What will happen in the coming days has been reduced to pure conjecture.

The judiciary has always been cloaked in opacity. Had these charges been levelled against politicians or government functionaries, the knives of criticism would have been out long back, baying for the blood of the accused. But the judiciary still enjoys a somewhat exalted status in public perception, which should make the former all the more vigilant to ensure that the trust is not breached.

The rapid unfolding of events on Thursday and Friday has to some extent sullied that image, leading to confusion. Two petitions filed on the same case by different parties — the first, by the NGO Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms and the other by SC advocate Kamini Jaiswal on Thursday — seem to have made matters murkier. If the apex court can’t solve its internal crisis and stumbles in its pursuit of justice, it shows that the cracks within the judiciary are wider than what one had thought.

This is not the first time that allegations against the judiciary have been levelled, nor will it be the last since the judiciary comes from the same pool of people in a society, where graft is, sadly, a way of life. The judiciary talks about the principles of natural justice. Now is the time to step up to the plate and prove its credo. The newly constituted SC bench, headed by the CJI, is at a juncture where it can set a milestone for generations to follow.