Judgments must not be ‘tossed out’ after their authors retire: Justice Nagarathna

Supreme Court judge, Justice B.V. Nagarathna, has said judgments are not written successful sand, but successful ink, and should not beryllium “tossed out” by consequent Benches erstwhile the judges who authored them person retired.

The words of the lone pistillate justice successful the Supreme Court travel caller overruling of judgments by consequent Benches. One of the cases successful constituent is the caller overturning of the Vanashakti judgment, which had stopped the signifier of ex station facto biology clearances.

Justice Nagarathna, speaking astatine an event, said the ineligible fraternity and governance model person to respect judgments for what they are, and lone situation them done the established process of law. Judgments cannot beryllium discarded simply due to the fact that “faces person changed”.

The views of Justice Nagarathna coincided with the observations made by a Supreme Court Bench headed by Justice Dipankar Datta astir the inclination of overruling judgments pursuing the status of their authors from the Supreme Court.

“In the caller past, we person alternatively painfully observed a increasing inclination successful this tribunal [of which we excessively are an indispensable part] of verdicts pronounced by judges, whether inactive successful bureau oregon not and irrespective of the clip lapse since pronounced, being overturned by succeeding Benches oregon specially constituted Benches astatine the behest of immoderate enactment aggrieved by the verdicts anterior successful constituent of time,” Justice Datta’s Bench had observed successful a judgment.

Justice Nagarathna cautioned that judicial independency warranted judgments to stay anchored successful time, and challenged successful accordance with the traditions embedded successful law.

Personal behaviour

Justice Nagarathna besides added that idiosyncratic behaviour of judges besides contributed to the extortion of judicial independence. Political insularity was captious to judicial independence.

“Judicial independency is yet conviction, courageousness and independency of idiosyncratic judges who determine matters earlier a tribunal of law,” she said

“The behaviour of a justice has to beryllium much than simply lawful. Independence of judicial thought and behaviour indispensable not lone beryllium but indispensable besides beryllium perceived by the nationalist to beryllium beyond suspicion,” Justice Nagarathna emphasised.

She was speaking astatine the planetary normal connected the “Independence of the Judiciary” astatine the O.P. Jindal Global University successful Haryana’s Sonipat connected Saturday.