NEW DELHI, Oct 24: Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud has said judges, though not elected, have
a very vital role to play because the judiciary has a “stabilising influence” in the evolution of societies
which are rapidly changing with technology.
He was responding to the most common criticism that unelected judges should not venture into
executive’s domain. He made the observations while speaking in the 3rd Comparative Constitutional
Law discussion co-hosted by the Georgetown University Law Center, Washington and the Society for
Democratic Rights (SDR), New Delhi on the topic – ‘Perspectives from the Supreme Courts of India
and the United States’.
“I believe that judges have a very vital role to play though we are not elected. We don’t go back to
the people every five years to seek their votes. But, there’s a reason for that… I do believe that the
judiciary, in that sense, is a stabilising influence in the evolution of our societies, particularly in
something like our age which is so rapidly changing with technology,” the CJI said.
The judges are the voice of something which must subsist beyond “the vicissitudes of time” and the
courts have the ability to provide stabilising influence in the societies.
“I do believe that we have a role to play in the overall stability of our own civilizations, our own
cultures, particularly in the context of a plural society, such as India,” he said.
As part of a cultural and social background, the CJI said that the courts have become focal points of
engagement between civil society and the quest for social transformation.
“So, people approach the courts, not just for outcomes. Let’s be very clear, people approach the
courts also for a voice in the process of constitutional change…,” he said.
This is a complex question and there are several reasons as to why people come to courts more
often, he said.
“It is very important for courts… because we are as many institutions of governance… of course
there is the principle of the separation of powers. We don’t take upon ourselves the role of the
legislature or we don’t take upon ourselves the role of the executive,” he said.
The courts are becoming places where people come in order to give vent to the expression for the
society which they aspire to achieve, he said. (PTI)
