Parl can cure laws, not overrule verdicts: CJI

The fact that we (judiciary) are not elected is not something that is a deficiency in our process, but is a strength of our process

- DHANANJAYA Y CHANDRACHUD

Not being the elected arm of the state is not a "deficiency" but the "strength" of the judicial process, said Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, arguing that it is not open to Parliament and state legislatures to overrule a judgment simply because they think it is wrong. What is permissible "is to cure a defect" in the judgment by enacting a fresh law, he added.

During an address on the fifth day of the 21st edition of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi, the CJI said judges do not look at how society will respond to their judgments as they are guided by "constitutional morality and not popular morality", quite unlike the elected arms of the government- the legislature and the executive, that is intended to be responsive to the people.

Noting this fine distinction that separates the judiciary as a non-elected arm of government from the legislature and executive, Justice Chandrachud said: "The fact that we are not elected is not something which is a deficiency in our process, but which is the strength of our process." In a conversation with Utkarsh Anand, national legal editor of Hindustan Times, Justice Chandrachud explained that there are certain abiding or eternal values that a society must stand for, "particularly our society", which is governed by a "social transformative instrument" like the Constitution, which, he said, the courts are entrusted to protect.

This is not to belittle the importance of the elected arms of the state, said the CJI, adding that as elected representatives of people forming the legislature are accountable to the people, the executive, in turn, is accountable to the legislature. "The elected arm of the state is equally important... They are vital institutions of a democracy and I respect that as a judge and as CJI," he underlined.