By IANS,
New Delhi: Seeking to dispel popular perception that the courts often accord early hearing to cases involving big corporates, Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan Monday asserted that the judiciary gives early hearing to “cases having serious impact on the country’s economy”.
In an interview to television news channel NDTV, on completing three years at the helm of the country’s judiciary, Chief Justice Balakrishnan also lamented that it took 19 years for the judiciary to convict former Haryana police chief S.P.S. Rahore for molesting teenaged Ruchika Girhotra in 1990.
Terming delay in conclusion of trial of criminal cases as a “disturbing trend”, the chief justice said: “The criminal cases should be finished within two years.”
Responding to a query on the early hearing given to the gas supply reply row between the energy firms of the two Ambani brothers, Mukesh and Anil, the Chief Justice pointed out: “If a case has a serious impact on the country’s economy, the judiciary always gives preference… though people believe that those with money can get their cases taken up at the earliest.”
“In the case of Reliance, there are billions of shareholders and a large number of power projects involved,” he pointed out.
When the apex court bench of the Chief Justice took up a marathon nine-week hearing of the Reliance gas dispute, virtually ignoring every other case, many eyebrows were raised on the early hearing accorded to the case.
Asked if “media trial” affects the judiciary and if judges come under the pressure of media, the CJI said: “Media often helps the judiciary, though judicial officers also feel that they are under constant media gaze.”
“Media trial does not affect at the high court and Supreme Court levels, might be at the magisterial levels,” he added.
Asserting that the Dinakaran episode did not hurt the judiciary’s image, the chief justice defended the apex court collegium’s decision to recommend Karnataka Chief Justice P.D. Dinakaran’s elevation to the apex court.
“When he was Madras High Court chief Justice, there were no charges against him,” he added.
Maintaining that “the committee (constituted by the Rajya Sabha) will give its report on Dinakaran”, the CJI said: “If Justice Dinakaran is found guilty, he should not be promoted.”