THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary- January 13, 2018 - Topic 1

Judiciary in turmoil - 1

It is a development that is both momentous and unfortunate. The press conference held by four senior judges of the Supreme Court has exposed an unprecedented level of dissension in the top echelons of the judiciary. It is regrettable that the banner of revolt has been raised in such a public way against the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra. Regardless of who is right in the current dispute over the administrative functioning of the CJI, the reverberations of what took place on Friday will not easily subside and will be felt for a long time to come. 

There was ample evidence over the last few months that the highest court was in a state of ferment; the question is whether it could have been handled internally rather than be dragged into the open like this. Although Justices J. Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B. Lokur and Kurian Joseph — the seniormost judges after the CJI — did not reveal too many details, it is clear that their grievances are rooted in their perception that Justice Misra is misusing his administrative powers to assign cases “selectively”, disregarding conventions on allocation of judicial work. They have added for good measure that cases with far-reaching consequences for the nation and the institution are being assigned to junior judges and Benches “of their preferences”, a suggestion that is being read by some as an ominous reference to an unknown external hand. It ought to be underscored here that the Chief Justice is indeed the master of the roster; even the four judges concede that this is a well-settled law, one that is reflected in a Constitution Bench judgment in 1998. While accepting the rule that the Chief Justice alone can decide the composition of Benches and allot judicial work, they allege that Justice Misra is departing so far from set conventions that it would have “unpleasant and undesirable consequences”, ultimately casting a doubt on the integrity of the institution itself. Logically, this is an internal matter of the judiciary, one that is best settled through deliberations in a full court meeting of all the Supreme Court judges themselves.

The letter written by the four judges to the Chief Justice, which became available to the media, and the manner in which the press conference played out, suggest that the grievances go much deeper than what was written or said. The germ that led to the outbreak of the current conflict could be the controversial Prasad Education Trust case, in which the petitioners alleged that some individuals were plotting to influence the Supreme Court. In an unusual order, a Division Bench headed by Justice Chelameswar went ahead to delineate the composition of the Bench to hear the case, in which charges of judicial corruption were made, coupled with hints that there would be a conflict of interest if Justice Misra were to hear it. Eventually, a five-judge Bench headed by Justice Misra overturned the order and asserted that the CJI was indeed the master of the roster and that he alone could assign cases and decide on the composition of benches. While there is no questioning who has the power to determine the roster, what the four judges are essentially questioning is how this power has been exercised. Judicial work is primarily allocated based on a roster, and individual cases are allotted to Benches based on the category under which they fall. Once the roster is fixed, the CJI should ordinarily see that it is duly followed. Exceptions must be rare, and that too only for compelling reasons. While it is not clear in how many cases such exceptions were made, the four judges seem to have had an issue over the petition that sought an inquiry into the death of special CBI judge B.H. Loya in 2014 being posted before a particular Bench. The deceased judge was hearing the Sohrabuddin ‘fake encounter’ case, in which BJP president Amit Shah was an accused but later discharged. Given the political sensitivity of the matter, the concern expressed over this case is something that must be squarely addressed in a way that dispels any misgivings.

Vocabulary

Momentous: great importance or significance, especially in its bearing on the future.

Example: A period of momentous changes in East-West relations

Synonyms: important, significant, historic, portentous, critical, crucial

Antonyms: unimportant, insignificant

Unprecedented: never done or known before.

Example: The government took the unprecedented step of releasing confidential correspondence

Synonyms: unheard of, unknown, new, novel, groundbreaking, revolutionary

Antonyms: precedented

Dissension: disagreement that leads to discord.

Example: This maneuver caused dissension within feminist ranks

Synonyms: disagreement, difference of opinion, dispute, dissent, conflict

Echelon: a level or rank in an organization, a profession, or society.

Example: The upper echelons of the business world

Synonyms: level, rank, grade, step, rung, tier, position, order

Regrettable: giving rise to regret; undesirable.

Example: The loss of this number of jobs is regrettable

Synonyms: undesirable, unfortunate, unwelcome, sorry, woeful, disappointing

Antonyms: fortunate

Reverberation: prolongation of a sound; resonance.

Example: Electronic effects have been added, such as echo and reverberation

Synonyms: resonance, echo, echoing, re-echoing, resounding, ringing

Ample: enough or more than enough; plentiful.

Example: There is ample time for discussion

Synonyms: enough, sufficient, adequate, plenty of, more than enough

Antonyms: hardscrabble, paltry, meagre, bare

Grievance: a real or imagined wrong or other cause for complaint or protest, especially unfair treatment.

Example: Failure to redress genuine grievances

Synonyms: injustice, wrong, injury, ill, unfairness, affront, insult, indignity

Antonyms: equity, fair play, fairness, faithfulness, honesty, honor

Perception: the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses.

Example: The normal limits to human perception

Synonyms: percept, perception, perceptual experience, sensing

Antonyms: ignorance, illiteracy, inexperience, misapprehension

Ominous: giving the impression that something bad or unpleasant is going to happen; threatening; inauspicious.

Example: There were ominous dark clouds gathering overhead

Synonyms: threatening, menacing, baleful, forbidding, sinister, inauspicious

Antonyms: unalarming, propitious

Germ: a microorganism, especially one that causes disease.

Example: Since pasteurisation kills not only germs but also useful bacteria

Synonyms: microbe, microorganism, bacillus, bacterium, virus, bug

Assert: state a fact or belief confidently and forcefully.

Example: The company asserts that the cuts will not affect development

Synonyms: declare, maintain, contend, argue, state, claim, propound

Decease: dead; no longer living.

Example: The cremation of a deceased person

Synonyms: dead, expired, departed, gone, no more, passed on/away

Antonyms: be born, be immortal, begin, come into being, come to life