Strong Executive, Weak Courts: Collapsing Edifice of Judicial Independence

by Prannv Dhawan and Anmol jain

Introduction

The downgrading of the credentials of India’s constitutional democracy has been a subject of severe domestic and global critique in recent times. Nevertheless, the Indian diplomatic positions in the global fora continue to emphasise upon its track record as a vital constitutional democracy with sound judicial safeguards to protect human rights. When this contradiction is analysed from a historical perspective, the warning signs for the sustenance of the constitutional democracy are notable. The period of Emergency (1975-76) was a dark phase in the Indian history and it cautioned the future to not follow certain paths if India were to uphold the true principles of constitutional democracy. However, the present seems to be ignoring the guidance of the past and we witness a virtual reappearance of the Emergency-era executive dominance of the judiciary, which factually merges the entire power within one entity, that is, the ruling political party. Rupturing judiciary is one of the main facets of the larger democratic decay happening on multiple levels in India: (1) crushing parlia-mentary deliberations; (2) faltering institutional independence; and (3) shrinking space for public expression and dissent.

This phenomenon is not specific to India, but is universal. Tarunabh Khaitan has correctly identified the