Contempt of court provision can not be repealed: CJI

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 26 Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan today defended the provisions of Contempt of Court, saying without them judicial orders will become a bunch of papers and no executive officer will obey court verdicts."Who is going to obey court orders, if the provision on Contempt of Court is removed... The court orders will become a bunch of papers," he said addressing a seminar on relationship between "The Executive, Legislature and Judiciary" here as part of the Kerala Assembly Golden Jubilee celebrations."No executive officer will obey the court orders if they are not afraid of the provisions of contempt of court," Balakrishnan said.Stating that courts were not afraid of criticism, he emphasised that the (contempt of court) provisions were to protect the interest of the people.There can be healthy criticism on the process of courts, but one should not bring down the prestige and power of judiciary.The criticism should not be directed at the institution and against any individual judge. No motivation should be there in the criticism and that type of criticism was no desirable, Balakrishnan said.On complaints on judicial activism and courts passing orders on Public Interest Litigations, Balakrishnan said it was improper to accuse the courts of taking unfair advantage of PIL instrument to further any vested interest.Citing several recent court interventions such as making compulsory the mid-day meal scheme and the case related to CNG buses in Delhi under the PIL provisions, Balakrishnan said judiciary was constrained to take action on issues concerned with citizens of the country. (Agencies)
Published: Saturday, April 26, 2008
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