Parliament, executive should not interfere in the judiciary: CJI Lodha

New Delhi: A day after Parliament approved scrapping of collegium system for appointment of judges in higher courts, the Chief Justice of India RM Lodha on Friday said Parliament and Executive should not interfere in the domain of Judiciary. [caption id=“attachment_1665851” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Chief Justice of India RM Lodha said the parliament should not interfere in matters of the judiciary. PTI[/caption] “I am sure that people in Judiciary, people in Executive and people in Parliament are mature enough to have mutual respect for each other and ensure that each of them is permitted to work in their sphere unhindered by any extraneous influence,” Justice Lodha said after unfurling tricolour in the Supreme Court premises. He said our Constitution makers made it sure that all organs of the state operate in their respective field without encroaching upon the other’s domain. Notwithstanding reservations of judiciary, Parliament had yesterday cleared two bills providing for a new mechanism for appointment of judges to higher judiciary by scrapping over two-decade old collegium system that had come under attack from political parties and others. Apparently responding to criticism over inordinate delay in the justice delivery system, Justice Lodha noted that while judiciary is responsible for appointing less then 1,000 judges (of SC and HCs) the state governments appoint 19,000 judges in lower courts. “As head of judiciary my heart feels pain when I find criminal justice system has given tremendous suffering, pain, exploitation of human rights and deprivation of human liberty,” he said, adding, that majority of prisoners in jails are undertrials. “It is curious and tragic paradox that prisons are housed more by undertrials than convicts,” he said while noting that in central prisons more than 50 percent inmates are undertrials and in case of district prisons the figure is more than 72 percent. PTI