President Pranab Mukherjee today said there was a need to maintain a "fine balance" in the role and responsibility of legislature, executive and judiciary as the success of Parliamentary democracy depends on it.
Addressing the valedictory function of the sesquicentennial celebrations of Calcutta High Court, Mukherjee said it was the "responsibility" of the judiciary to evolve a mechanism of self-discipline to maintain this balance.
"Justice Kabir elaborated about the balance among the judiciary, the executive and the legislature. Success of Parliamentary democracy depends upon maintaining this fine balance and we shall have to ensure it," the President said at the function, which was also attended by Law Minister Ashwini Kumar and Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir.
Maintaining that the independence of the judiciary is sacrosanct, he said that it will be "disastrous" to think that either the legislature or the executive should have power to discipline the judiciary.
"It is therefore the judiciary's responsibility to itself evolve a mechanism of self-discipline so that balance can be maintained," Mukherjee said.
It was the first public gathering in the recent days where the law minister and the CJI shared dais after the controversy deepened over Kumar's meeting with the CBI Director over the status report on coalgate.
At the gathering, the law minister made a strong pitch for speedy justice and said, "delay in justice has the potential to erode the trust of our people in the judiciary process".
Pitching for speedy disposal of cases, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee observed that a justice delayed is justice denied.
The CJI, however, had a word of caution for judges holding that speedy justice should not come at the cost of wrong judgements.
He said while, for many people, the burden of arrears is a big thing, "but I have a word of caution. Please do not see disposal as your only norm. Wiping of arrears is not our only concern. It is one of our concerns. If you are disposing off cases without hearing people, you are doing injustice."
The CJI also maintained that the "rule of law is the bedrock of any democracy".
He said that it is also for the administration to see that the justice, which is meted out by the court is acted upon.
