The Supreme Court has ruled that high court judges shall continue to be frisked at airports and added that security checks should not become an “issue of prestige or status”. The three-judges Bench, headed by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur, struck down a 2005 Rajasthan High Court verdict that had directed the Centre and airport authorities to exempt high court judges from security checks.
The apex court said judges are expected to comply with rules that are objective and well defined by law, reported The Indian Express. “Matters of security are not issues of prestige. They are not matters of status,” said the judges. Besides, the top court said that the high court must not interfere in government decisions on security matters. “The distinction between what lies within and what lies outside the power of judicial review is necessary to preserve the sanctity of judicial power,” the Hindustan Times quoted the court as saying.
Currently, only those who are under round-the-clock security coverage are exempted from being frisked at airports. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security exempt the Chief Justice of India and other judges of the Supreme Court, the president, vice president, prime minister, governors, chief ministers, speaker of Lok Sabha, Union ministers of Cabinet rank, lieutenant governors and cabinet secretary from being frisked at airports.
In 2005, the Rajasthan High Court had taken suo-motu congnisance of an issue of security breach at Saganer airport and said that frisking high court judges shows that the government did not acknowledge their constitutional position. There are more than 1,000 judges in 24 high courts across the country.
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