Hats off to one of our former Supreme Court judges, Justice Madan Lokur, who has, in my view, successfully exposed the nexus between the ultra right coalition government being led by BJP and the apex court as the latter has not only caused a self-inflicted wound on its image and reputation through its highly unjust judgement on Jammu and Kashmir but it also seems to have declared that it has acquiesced to every government step that is aimed at pursuing the Hindutva agenda to the utter chagrin and dismay of Muslims in India in general and Jammu and Kashmir in particular.
In his talk with Karan Thapar on TheWire, Justice Lokur pointed out that country’s higher judiciary, according to the Wire, “has erred and cannot be proud of its Kashmir judgement but, instead, should review it.”
No doubt the apex court has committed a slew of serious lapses before arriving at its judgement through which it has upheld BJP government’s August 5 2019 decision to strip Jammu and Kashmir of the autonomy guaranteed by the constitution.
Thapar pointed out that Justice Lokur has himself discovered that although the petitioners had challenged the dissolution of the assembly and the imposition of the governor’s rule and the Supreme Court’s verdict acknowledges that both were challenged; the court, however, actually failed to discuss the challenge.
The petitioners had plausibly argued that an alternate government was viable; therefore, the dissolution of the assembly and governor’s rule were unconstitutional.
Had the apex court agreed with this challenge everything that followed the dissolution and the governor’s rule such as the abrogation of Article 370, and the reorganisation of the state all of them could have been invalid.
Answering the question how serious the lapse is on the part of the apex court, Justice Lokur said that “”There was no material before the union government to impose the governor’s rule. ...The Supreme Court did not look into that”.
Be that as it may, that Justice Lokur’s perspective constitutes a grotesque censure insofar as the Supreme Court’s judgement is concerned is a fact.
The court must therefore review its Jammu and Kashmir verdict immediately in order to protect and preserve its image and reputation. It must do it because higher the court’s reputation, the greater is its ability to ensure compliance with its judgements.
R.K. Abudullakutti
Dubai
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023