The Two Faces Of Judicial Activism — Ambuja Cement Corporate Legal Team

We live in a democratic society where the Legislature, Executive, Judiciary and Media are considered the four “pillars” of our society.

Introduction

Each pillar has a significant role to play within its domain. Legislature is responsible for making laws; Executive is responsible for implementing the laws; Judiciary is responsible for administration of justice by ensuring that these laws are implemented in the right perspective and Media is responsible for ensuring transparency in the working of the other three pillars of our society.

Though the roles and responsibilities of each pillar appear to be well-defined, there are instances of interference or encroachment in other’s territories, either due to ignorance or due to anxiety of claiming superiority over the others. While in the former case, the interference is not as serious, in the latter case, a situation of show-down is imperative at one stage or the other. The outcome of such situations is not always very pleasing and healthy for the overall health of democracy where each pillar is supposed to respect the others’ responsibilities and work within its own defined territory.

This is more so the case of a country like India where each pillar is considered equally important and powerful unlike some other countries where either the Judiciary is more powerful or the Legislature dominates the others. The Constitution of India envisages separation of power among the various organs of the government and therefore does not offer supremacy to any one pillar, rather the Constitution itself assumes supremacy over all others. The lawmakers make laws within the framework of the Constitution and Judiciary is mandated by the Constitution to scrutinize the acts of the Legislature and the Executive and prevent them from overstepping the boundaries set by the Constitution. Hence, the Judiciary acts like a guardian in protecting the fundamental rights of the people from infringement by any organ of the state.

Role of the Judiciary