Judicial Accountability in India An Analytical Study

Abstract

Legal responsibility as an idea has been much discussed but it s extremely hard to newlinedescribe in exact terms. As Lord Hailsham thought in his Lionel Cohen address, quotthere newlineis a continuous tension between judicial self-government and public responsibility of newlinemagistrates in a democracy. This tension should be reconciled by the exercise of newlinewisdom and good judgment so that the proper balance between these fundamental newlineprinciples is maintained.quot Lord Bryce correctly noted: quotThere is no better alternative to newlineexcellence than the efficiency of the judicial system of governmentquot. newlineThe present study also concludes that all the legislative efforts on the part of newlinelegislature at different points of time to regulate the conduct of magistrates in India newlinehave failed due to the adamant attitude of Indian judiciary. It means till the date there newlineis a lack of identified enforceable standard of judicial conduct which a member of newlinejudiciary must adhere. Also, there is no strong formal or informal way to ensure that newlinethese standards are followed. One should note that in countries like India the judiciary newlinerelies on citizens to resolve their many difficulties and therefore the corresponding newlinestandards of responsibility in the Indian judiciary are a matter of an hour. It is a paradox newlineof the system that after more than seventy years there has never been any such way. newlineThe general code of ethics should be developed by taking the help of several documents newlineat the national and international level. In the context of raised observations and newlinediscussions the present research work is an attempt to discuss and inspect the present newlinestatus of Judicial Responsibility in India and the existing framework of its enforcement. newlineBesides this, an honest attempt is made to explore the possible challenges in newlineimplementation of institutional judicial responsibility mechanism for the magistrates as newlineindividuals and judiciary as an institution. Finally there has been made an endeavor to newlinedraw out a possible road map for the effective implementation.