The timing couldn’t have been more appropriate. Amid growing public outrage over the collapse of many high-profile cases, like the Jessica Lall murder, the heads of the Executive and Judiciary, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chief Justice of India Justice Y K Sabharwal, both agreed that the justice-delivery system was in need for urgent reforms.

At the All-India Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices, held at the Vigyan Bhavan here today, Justice Sabharwal was the first one to make the house sit up.

“The country’s justice-delivery system appears to be on the verge of collapse,” he said. Adding that the responsibility for this was to be shared by the Executive. “Not much has been done for improvement of investigative and prosecution machinery. Significant suggestions for separation of investigative wing from law and order duties and changes in rules of evidence still lie unattended,” he said.

In an apparent reference to the Jessica Lall case, the CJI observed: “The public outrage over the failure of the criminal justice system in some high profile cases must shake us all up into the realisation that something needs to be urgently done to revamp the whole process, though steering clear of knee-jerk reactions, remembering that law is a serious business.” The conference adopted a resolution on the need for separating the investigative apparatus from the law and order machinery.

This found unusual resonance in the PM’s speech: “The manner in which some cases are being prosecuted, particularly where cases fall because witnesses turn hostile or change their evidence is causing concern to ever increasing sections of society...There is a need for all of us to reflect whether the existing procedures are adequate and foolproof, whether we are using all available provisions to prevent deviant behaviour and whether we need new provisions in law so that the justice system is seen to deliver justice.”

Singh also utilised the opportunity to once again underline that the judiciary needed to address the problem of corruption within. “Instances of corruption have now begun to surface in our judicial system too. The higher judiciary must address this challenge and show the way forward to the rest of the system,” he said. To that effect, he referred to the need to “have an effective mechanism to ensure judicial accountability while at the same time maintaining the independence of the judiciary.”

The PM also had a word of caution for the judges: “Judicial activism must be used in a restrained manner to fill any institutional vacuum or failure and to clarify legal positions.” It must also take into account, he said, the administrative viability of the reform process.

On corruption, Justice Sabharwal said the problem wasn’t limited to the judiciary but was a “burning issue in all spheres of public life.”

“The judiciary is committed to continue cleansing itself by coming down with a heavy hand on unscrupulous elements that may exist within, and also by removing the deadwood. We have adopted a policy of zero-tolerance on this subject,” he said.

Misuse of PILs (public interest litigation) was also a key issue the PM and the CJI touched upon. While Justice Sabharwal said a PIL should not become a “publicity interest litigation,” the PM focused on its potential to delay crucial decision-making.

“A highly commendable mechanism when it was initiated, we need to reflect whether we have reached a stage where the pendulum has swung to the other extreme, whether it has become a tool for obstruction, delay and sometimes harassment. A balanced approach in taking up PIL cases, will continue to keep PILs as a potent tool for rectifying public ills,” said Singh.

‘Judges are not Gods, happy if you just call me Sir’

On the sidelines of the conference, Justice Sabharwal said:

• On the accountability bill to form the National Judicial Council: “The proposal has not yet reached me...Let the (law) ministry ask my opinion...I will peruse it and give my opinion.”

• On Sir instead of Your Lordship: “I would be happy, Lord is only one and he is God above all of us. I am not God, judges are not Gods. It would be enough if we are simply addressed as Sir.”

• On Speaker’s no response to a notice in the MPs expulsion case: “We have to see the case within the parameters of the Constitution...Will our interpretation of the Constitution not be valid if one party to the case does not appear?” — R Venkataraman