International Journal of Engineering and Management Research (IJEMR)
Year : 2017, Volume : 7, Issue : 5
First page : ( 207) Last page : ( 209)
Print ISSN : 2394-6962. Online ISSN : 2250-0758.

Judiciary Activism in Democratic India: An Overview

Dr Basu Amitava

Associate Professor of Commerce, B.B. College, Asansol, West Bengal, India

Online published on 8 December, 2017.

Abstract

The independence of judiciary in itself in the first place can lead to many other factors conducive to democracy and secondly it can ensure that Montesquieu's theory of separation of power has been implemented to some extent. Even in a Parliamentary democracy, where legislative and executive power is concentrated at one place, the independence of judiciary from the legislative and executive control ensures that justice shall be administered impartially. H.J. Laski, in his “Grammar of Politics ”has written that historically the concentration of power to interpret and administer justice in the same hands has always been associated with tyranny. In a federal country like India, where the power is tilted in favour of the centre, the judiciary ensures that the powers of the states are not usurped by the powerful centre. Thus the federal balance is maintained by the judiciary. It also secures the fundamental rights of the citizens. However the greatest milestone in the role of judiciary as a protector of democratic rights of the citizens took shape in the form of public interest litigation. In light of this, while this paper will examine how the judicial activism has led to better democratic rights giving social justice to citizens and at the same time the paper will raise certain questions regarding hyper-activism of judiciary and in the end, answer and solution shall be sought.

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Keywords

Judiciary, Activism, Right, Liberty, Democracy.

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