Wings to Dissent

Justice DY Chandrachud's tenure as apex court judge provides respite where he tried to revive the dissenting culture in the apex court. He believed that a society which does not encourage its citizens to critically think, question the powers that be, and engage in non-conformist democratic discourse will fail to progress because it will fail to create dissenters. He as a judge not only wrote strong and academic dissents but tried to create a culture where justices in the bench led by him could voice dissent

This statement of John Stuart Mill brings to light a remarkable phenomenon, though uncommon, called 'dissent', i.e., 'to differ in opinion or feelings' or 'to disagree'.

The Constitution of India realizing the essence and significance of dissent made this right available not only to our citizens but to our judges [Article 145].

The ability of a judge to write an opinion which rejects the reasoning of his colleagues and explains how the majority has fallen into error is one of the key indicators of a robust and independent judicial system.

The possibility of dissenting opinions in a multi-member bench in constitutional courts is one factor which provides reassurance that the courts are staffed by independent judges beholden only to their own individual appreciation of the Constitution and the law.

The data collected by the author displays a declining trend in the frequency of dissent over the last seven decades.

In the last two decades velocity of dissent was found at its lowest level; people thus would be inclined to think that democratic elements were lost in the last two decades.

The abysmal rate of dissent in CJI benches allows us to infer with some amount of conviction that either it may be the persona of the Chief Justice of India which restricts indirectly/directly brother judges to express his/her disagreement in the bench or the fact that Chief Justice has a lot of administrative powers vested in him, specifically the power to constitute benches where he is in position to influence his brother/sister judges not to raise a question mark on his judgment or he constitutes benches of like-minded judges where possibility of dissent becomes almost nil.

Justice DY Chandrachud's tenure as apex court judge provides respite where he tried to revive the dissenting culture in the apex court.