CJI Gavai makes a remarkable visit to Maharashtra
The three main pillars on which India's democratic system rests are the judiciary, legislature and executive. The fourth pillar 'Election Commission' prepares the ground for this democracy, so its role is no less important. If we take the judiciary in this context, its prestige and dignity in independent India has been beyond doubt among the common people. Of course, its reputation came under doubt in the 70s during the Emergency, but except for this 19-month tenure, the trust of the common people in the judiciary has never been shaken. The basic reason for this is that India is a country run by the Constitution and the judiciary is the protector of this Constitution. It performs its functions directly by drawing power from the Constitution and reviews the work of governments formed on political grounds. After independence, socialist thinker Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia said that India's democracy rests on the four-pillar rule in which apart from the executive, judiciary and legislature, the fourth pillar is the free press (media). However, there is no mention of the press in the Constitution of India.
Dr. Lohia linked the fundamental right to freedom of expression enshrined in the Constitution with a free press and called it the watchman of the three other pillars. The press is also not a part of the government and it also performs its functions under the right to freedom of expression given in the Constitution. A free press is responsible for public interest. But today the question is about the relationship between the three main pillars of democracy, which has recently been referred to by Justice B.R. Ramachandran, who recently became the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Gavai has given it. Mr. Gavai said that these three pillars should respect and respect each other. Certainly, there has never been such an occasion in the history of independent India when there has been a conflict between these three pillars. There have been one or two instances when people felt that the judiciary and the legislature had come face to face. Especially yourself. During Indira Gandhi's tenure in the 70s.
In 1974, when the Supreme Court ruled in the Kesavananda Bharati case that Parliament cannot alter the basic structure of the Constitution and cannot tamper with the fundamental rights of citizens, the Swami Vivekananda was not allowed to change the basic structure of the Constitution. Indira Gandhi hesitated and said that the judiciary should give its decisions after looking at the policies of the government. His statement was then construed as an attack on the independent judiciary and a new debate started on whether Parliament is supreme or judiciary. But the end of this debate also came out that since the judiciary is not a part of the government and it does its work directly by taking power from the Constitution, it cannot be made a slave of government decisions and its religion is to put every decision of the government on the test of the constitution.
As far as the policies of the government are concerned, the government is free to make them, but obviously these policies will also be in accordance with the constitution because the government also does its work by taking oath of the constitution. But today's question is of respect for the judiciary. Every child of India knows that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is the highest person in the judiciary. The President administers the oath of office and secrecy to them, the guardian of the Constitution and the Supreme Commander of the three armies, and in response, the Chief Justice administers the oath of office and secrecy to him when he is elected President.
Therefore, the Chief Justice of India should also be respected in this way. But when Chief Justice Mr. Gavai reached the capital of Maharashtra yesterday, the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa organized a felicitation ceremony in his honor. Every Indian is in a serious mood at the manner in which Justice Gavai expressed his grief at the function. Mr. Gavai, who hails from Amravati district of Maharashtra, visited his state Maharashtra for the first time after becoming the Chief Justice. Therefore, the Chief Secretary of the State, the Director General of Police and the Commissioner of Police of Mumbai should have been there to receive him. But none of them turned up to welcome him. This is against the etiquette. The Chief Justice also comes among the sentinels of India's democracy because it is his constitutional responsibility to provide justice to the common people of India.
That is why he had to say that the three pillars of democracy should respect each other. However, when he later went to Babasaheb Ambedkar's Chaitya Bhoomi in Nagpur, the above three personalities reached there in his welcome. The real question is that the Chief Justice does not attend the day-to-day government process, but he is the custodian of justice and the interpreter of the Constitution. It is the foremost duty of every State Government to respect them. Governments also run with courtesy, that is why Maharashtra has a separate Minister for this Department. The Minister should also seriously consider the observations of the Chief Justice. Public shame is of great importance in a democracy. The Chief Justice of our country should have been honoured with great enthusiasm on the soil of Maharashtra because he once lived in the slum area of this state and had his early education in a municipal school. He is the second person to reach this position after being born in a Dalit family. But he is the first citizen of Maharashtra.