Is Judiciary Accountable for its Actions?

Anna Anu Priya & Rahul Kumar
Law College Dehradun, Uttaranchal University, Uttrakhand, India

Volume-1, Issue-2, 2018

Judges are not final because they are infallible. They are infallible because they are final.”     -Jackson, J.

As the quote makes it very clear, that the power of the judges is not supreme by virtue of it being “the judge’s power”, but by the virtue of many different factors that give the judges and the judiciary the power it has.

The topic of the essay, which is in the form of a question, is inclined to be answered in an affirmative, by any layman—or a layman law student, or maybe anyone who understands what the words judiciary and accountability mean. Importance of judiciary in the Indian democracy, without any supplied emphasis or exaggeration, is immense. This organ of paramount importance, if not accountable, would be something with only rights and powers and without duties and liabilities. Or will it?

This question at all arises in the absence of numerous mechanisms and implications of accountability, as against the Parliament (for instance) that has to guard itself against no confidence motions and other measures of financial accountability. The only procedure and implication for the judiciary is of impeachment.

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