Poverty and politics

of the judiciary
V.R. Krishna Iyer

the contrary, they do not, and

a very large number of our
udges are the spinal cord population have been led to
of the rule of law, and the the opinion that they are, unnal interpreters of the Con- consciously,
no
doubt,
stitution. Their judgments biased.
govern social and economic
Lord
Scrutton
wrote:
justice. But oftentimes, as Where are your impartial
Frankfurter pointed out, their Judges? They all move in the
failings show up. He wrote: same circle as the employers,
Judges as persons, or courts and they are all educated and
as institutions, are entitled to nursed in the same ideas as
no greater immunity from the employers. How can a lacriticism than other persons bour man or a trade unionist
or institutions. Just because get impartial justice? It is very
the holders of judicial office difficult sometimes to be sure
are identied with the inter- that you have put yourself inests of justice they may forget to a thoroughly impartial potheir common human frailties sition
between
two
and fallibilities.
disputants, one of your own
We see in India a number of class and one not of your
instances of such failings class.
coming into focus. A radical
I wish we had a socialist
transformation of the robed secular democratic Republic
brethren
has
become with a judicature that will be
necessary.
fundamentally fair and pasThe backbone of the consti- sionately indignant so that evtutional order, or its basic eryone gets what is due to
structure, depends on the him, securing dignity, moralcondence it commands from ity and spiritual integrity. The
the have-nots. This perspec- executive administration of a
tive was best expressed by society can be truly sacred
Professor Griffith in The Poli- and sublime only when the jutics of the Judiciary through diciary and the legal decisions
two quotations, by Winston it pronounces are altogether
Churchill and Lord Scrutton unaffected by considerations
respectively.
of class, community, fraterniChurchill wrote: The ty and cultural ethos.
courts hold justly a high, and I
Capitalism and socialism
think, unequalled pre-emi- are fundamentally based on
nence in the respect of the the haves and the have-nots.
world in criminal cases, and in The working class is often excivil cases between man and ploited by the capitalist class
man. No doubt, they deserve when it nominates the execand command the respect and utive, which more often than
admiration of all classes of the not represents the richer
community, but where class classes. Even with adult franissues are involved, it is im- chise, the purchase by the
possible to pretend that the richer classes of members of
courts command the same de- the legislature remains a posgree of general condence. On sibility. Naturally, the class

bias comes into play even in

the selection of judges. Even
the judiciary and the jurisprudence they enforce have a
class character.
If you want a truly socialist
Republic, judicial power must
vest in the working class and
the peasantry. Inevitably, given its class character, the law
of interpretation that the judiciary adopts tends to favour
the haves, not the have-nots.
The social structure and the
fundamental character of the
instruments of the Executive,
the Legislature and the Judiciary have a political character.
It is only when the Labour
Party came to power that the
Indian Independence Act was
passed in the House of Commons and India could become
free. Then the Constituent
Assembly shaped the Constitution. But this did not radically change the economic
fundamentals of Indian society. That will require a revolutionary movement. Sixty-six
years after Independence, the
poor remain poor. The Preamble remains an aspiration,
not an achievement.
The Aam Admi Party,
which stands for elimination
of corruption may perhaps be
the beginning of a transformation. The crimson day will
be hastened if the new ideology of the Buddha, Vivekananda and Gandhi becomes
the politics of tomorrow.
Then, judicial power will truly
reect the elimination of poverty and the installation of the
right to life of the little Indian.
(V.R. Krishna Iyer is a former judge of the Supreme
Court of India)