August 30, 2020 was a revolutionary day for me. I, who consider congressmen enemy of modern India, had to change my opinion for a day. On this day, Chidambaram announced in Indian Express, it is time for supreme reform. What reforms was he talking about? His concerns were- 'independence' of the judiciary. As per him, the causes for the concern are different at the levels of the subordinate judiciary, High Courts and Supreme Court.

The role, functions and proceedings of the Court have changed considerably in the last two decades. One of the major concern of him is erosion of the powers of the Executive. His immediate focus is on the Supreme Court.

Because Benches hear cases, the law declared by the Supreme Court is uncertain. Every highest court has reversed its earlier rulings, but usually such reversals are because of epochal changes or widespread clamour among the people. However, in India, judgements have been reversed because a two- or three-judge Bench has refused to follow binding judgements of Constitution Benches; or because a Bench of three judges has simply taken a view different from an earlier view. There is also uncertainty in the minds of citizens in arranging their personal and business affairs while the law is being interpreted and re-interpreted differently.

The Executive, through its law officers, must stand up to the Supreme Court when it seeks to judicially review a purely administrative or policy decision without any jurisprudential basis to do so. If the Executive’s policy or administrative decision is wrong, the place to correct it is the Parliament/Legislature or the voting booth.

The scope for the Executive to ‘reward’ judges of the Supreme Court after their retirement must be eliminated. Every judge of the Supreme Court, after retirement, should receive his/her full salary and allowances for life, but may not accept any assignment or post or Constitutional office. It is a small financial cost that the nation will bear cheerfully to ensure the independence of the Supreme Court.

You should think about more reforms because we all need an independent Supreme Court so that our media, which has independent self regulatory mechanism, does not fall prey to lack of reforms in top judiciary.