Judiciary cannot earn public confidence by shielding itself from scrutiny, says CJI

Chief Justice of India Sурya Kant has declared that the judiciary cannot earn public confidence by placing itself beyond scrutiny, drawing on the Supreme Court's recent handling of a controversy over NCERT textbooks to illustrate the principle.

Delivering the 6th Ram Jethmalani Memorial Lecture on 'Justice seen to be done: Transparency and public trust as pillars of the legal system', the Chief Justice said the suo motu proceedings concerning the NCERT textbook had been an "occasion to consider the relationship between legitimate criticism and public confidence in the institution".

Supreme Court's textbook intervention as a case study

The CJI invoked the court's intervention in the NCERT Class 8 textbook row, where the court had objected to references to 'judicial corruption', to emphasise that "institutions do not stay clean by being shielded from scrutiny". The court had initially ordered the textbook to be withdrawn en masse.

It had termed the textual depiction of the judiciary as "reckless, irresponsible, motivated, contemptuous" with an intention to instill bias in the "impressionable minds" of young school children. The Bench, which was headed by the CJI, had made stern remarks that "heads must roll".

Earlier in September, however, the court closed the suo motu proceedings after the chapter was replaced with an updated curriculum. It had further recalled harsher earlier findings against individual academicians.

Criticism essential to constitutional democracy

Chief Justice Kant referred to excerpts from the court order, like "the judiciary, as an institution, is not, and cannot be, averse to criticism", as "fair, informed and constructive critique of judicial functioning" is "a legitimate and necessary feature of a vibrant constitutional democracy", contributing to institutional accountability and self-correction.

The CJI said that an institution cannot remain by shirking scrutiny and criticism, but by repeatedly surviving exposure. A court cannot seek the confidence of the public by placing itself beyond scrutiny; it must remain willing to be examined, questioned and, where necessary, criticised, the Chief Justice said.

Justice must 'look right' to those affected

On the adage that 'justice must be seen to be done', the CJI said a judicial decision must not only be right, but must look right, especially to the people who had to live with it. He said the judiciary must not work for public approval, but its actions must garner public trust.

"A court does not earn trust by being liked, or by handing out the outcomes people wanted. It earns trust when the people who lost, who wanted an entirely different result, still walk away believing that the process which decided against them was a fair one. That is a far harder thing to earn than approval, and far more valuable," Chief Justice Kant said.

Transparency means open reasoning, not just open doors

The top judge said transparency, for a court, was not simply a matter of open doors and public hearings. "It means that the reasoning behind a decision, and not merely its result, can be examined by anyone who cares to look, including the very people the decision goes against. A court that announces its verdicts but keeps its reasoning to itself has not really been transparent, whatever else it may have done," Chief Justice Kant said.

Public trust requires continuous renewal

The CJI described public trust as the only coin the judiciary has ever truly held. "That trust is not something any institution can earn once and then, simply rely on forever. It has to be renewed continuously, and it is shaped far more by the accumulated, ordinary experience people have of a system, case after case, than by any single moment or judgment. The work of earning it is, in that sense, never really finished," Chief Justice Kant said.

The address underscored the Chief Justice's view that institutional legitimacy flows not from insulation against criticism but from the judiciary's willingness to withstand sustained public examination while maintaining procedural fairness and reasoned transparency in every decision it renders.

Source: The Hindu