Row over PM’s visit to CJI’s House

Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi’s visit to the residence of Chief Justice of India Y. V. Chandrachud on the eve of Ganesha Puja has kicked up a row between the politicians belonging to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition. Some member of the legal fraternity too have raised objection to such a meeting. Critics view the visit as something that blurs the line between the executive and the judiciary. While no one questions the Prime Minister or the CJI celebrating a festival in their individual capacity, the PM’s visit to the CJI’s residence is seen as an impropriety that is best avoided in a democratic polity like India where the latter is part of the benches dealing with several key cases where the political parties are locking horns.

The judges are supposed to maintain a distance and aloofness from the executive as a matter of principle. The festival eve bonhomie between the topmost functionaries of the State in private capacity is seen to have a compromising impact on the rulings expected of the judiciary. Moreover, the publicised event with videos going viral is bound to strengthen perception of a quid pro quo, even if the two had no parleys except exchange of greetings and pleasantries. Some have even alluded to the former cabinet ministers and even prime ministers hosting Iftar parties during Ramazan. But the fact that Iftar parties were mass get-togethers rather than one-to-one meeting cannot be glossed over. The act may not involve any illegality or unconstitutionality.

But such is the sensitive nature of the ties that bind the executive and the judiciary that they need to be guarded from even the shadow of improprieties. Even a faint hint of a judge seen in company of a politician in power is enough to impair the credibility of the judiciary if it does not totally destroy it. And more so when the incumbent is on the verge of retirement. Only a watchful nation can ensure the two pillars of the polity maintain the sanctity demanded of them.