‘Mere Right To Change Ruler No Guarantee Against Tyranny’: Chief Justice

New Delhi:

Elections each few years to vary the ruler needn’t be a assure in opposition to tyranny of these elected, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana mentioned at a operate in New Delhi on Wednesday. The CJI underscored that “criticisms and voicing of protests is integral to the democratic course of” and any legislation backed by a sovereign have to be tempered by tenets of justice.

“It has all the time been effectively recognised that the mere proper to vary the ruler, as soon as each few years, by itself needn’t be a assure in opposition to tyranny,” mentioned the Chief Justice, delivering the Justice PD Desai Memorial Lecture on “Rule of legislation” on-line.

The CJI mentioned the concept persons are the final word sovereign is present in notions of human dignity and autonomy and a reasoned public discourse is significant to a working democracy.

“A public discourse, that’s each reasoned and cheap, is to be seen as an inherent side of human dignity and therefore important to a correctly functioning democracy.

“As Professor Julius Stone noticed in his guide ‘The Province of Legislation’, elections, day-to-day political discourses, criticisms and voicing of protests is integral to the democratic course of,” he mentioned.

Drawing from the authorized historical past of pre-Independence India, the CJI mentioned the British rule was well-known for “Rule by Legislation”, reasonably than “Rule of Legislation”, underlining {that a} legislation should imbibe concepts of justice and fairness.

“Famend students have due to this fact argued {that a} legislation can’t actually be categorised as a ‘legislation’ except it imbibes inside itself the beliefs of justice and fairness. An ‘unjust legislation’ may not have the identical ethical legitimacy as a ‘simply legislation’, however it would possibly nonetheless command the obedience of some sections of the society to the detriment of others,” mentioned Chief Justice Ramana.

The choose careworn that judiciary is the first organ which is tasked with making certain that the legal guidelines that are enacted are according to the Structure.

“This is without doubt one of the principal features of the judiciary, that of judicial evaluate of legal guidelines. The Supreme Court docket has held this operate to be part of the essential construction of the Structure, which implies that the parliament can’t curtail the identical,” he added.