Non Compliance of Court Orders
Democracy is thriving because of the pledge to secure justice for all citizens
- Democracy is thriving because of the pledge to secure
justice for all citizens. But in India, it appears like a deliberate attempt is
being made to undermine the authority of the judiciary. As a result, a sizable
number of people are being denied justice. This is exemplified in the fact that
over 1800 contempt cases are pending in the Supreme Court at present, while the
number of pending contempt cases in the High Court is more than 1.43 lakh. This
came to light after the Law Ministry recently submitted a written reply in the
Lok Sabha, pleading ignorance about the reasons behind non-compliance of court
orders by various ministries and departments. What is even more worrying is
that no one has been punished for defiance of the court orders so far. So, it’s
time to make the executive accountable to the judiciary to ensure that no one
is denied justice.
- Non-compliance of court orders is not something new in
India. Rather, the problem is very deep-rooted. There are numerous instances
where the authorities keep buying time on implementing court orders on one
pretext or the other. Upset over non compliance of court orders, a bench of
Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan (Supreme Court) recently stated that “We
can’t brush aside how courts are treated by the state governments”. This
insincerity mirrors the situation in the ‘temple of democracy.’ It’s a pity
that even after such an observation made by the Supreme Court, the ground
reality has not changed much as most directives issued by the courts have not
been adhered to.
- But to strengthen democracy, the authorities have to ensure
compliance of each and every directive issued by the courts at the earliest. If
needed, all the pending contempt cases, both in the Supreme Court and the High
Court, should be taken up on a fast track. Those responsible for delay in
compliance of court orders also should be punished for absence of
accountability. These measures are important to reassure the citizens that the
country has not deviated from democracy and that it the promise of delivering
justice to all would be fulfilled at any cost. But to achieve this, nobody
should be allowed to take the judiciary for granted. The judiciary is one the
pillars of democracy; its orders should be complied with. Unreasonable delay in
serving justice to the people, especially the marginalised section of the
society, should not be tolerated. Prompt execution of court directives is a
must to keep India’s glorious democratic tradition intact, as democracy is
meaningless without justice.
