President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday said that the judiciary, the executive and the legislature – the three organs of the State – should not “cross into each other’s finely-defined spaces”, ANI reported. Kovind was inaugurating the National Law Day Conference organised by the Law Commission of India and Niti Aayog in New Delhi.
“Public life is today a glass house. There is a relentless demand for transparency and scrutiny,” Kovind said. “Our legal fraternity needs to be mindful of these legitimate urges of the people – the ultimate masters in a democracy.” He said the judiciary, the executive and the legislature are all “obligated to be models of good conduct”.
Kovind also expressed concern over the “unacceptably low” representation of women, Other Backward Castes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the higher judiciary. He said that only one in four judges is a woman. “Like our other public institutions, our judiciary too has to be judicious in being representative of the diversity of our country, and the depth and breadth of our society,” the president added.
Kovind also emphasised the need for courts to provide speedy justice. “While we take pride in our courts and their independence, it is a paradox that the poor often shy away from a legal battle, worried about the duration and the cost,” he said. “And the well-off sometimes use the judicial process and its intricacies to delay resolution to issues they simply do not want resolved. This paradox needs to be addressed.”
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