Court monitoring committees illegal...stop PIL blackmail: Justice Katju slams his own

Justice Markandeya Katju, who had last year pulled up the Delhi High Court for straying into what was not its domain, held today that court-appointed committees or panels were “outsourcing of judicial functions” which, he said, was illegal and “unconstitutional.”

“The court cannot abdicate its function by handing over its powers under the constitution or the CPC or the CrPC to a person or committee appointed by it,” the judge observed underlining that these committees attract “adverse public comment due to the alleged despotic behaviour...”

“The power to issue a mandamus or injunction is only with the court,” he said. Although he agreed that the court could certainly appoint a committee to gather information or receive suggestions, he said “the court cannot arm such a committee to issue orders which only a court can do.”

Justice H K Sema, the other judge on the bench however “disassociated” himself from Justice Katju’s views. However, he agreed with Justice Katju on the point that relief sought in the petition is “adequately taken care of by the Motor Vehicles Act itself and if there is any lacuna or defect, it is (up to) the legislature to correct it by amending the Act and not the Court.”

In a polite yet firm reminder to the judiciary, Katju remarked that very often courts do not realize their own limits. “Apart from the doctrine of separation of powers, courts must realise that there are many problems before the country which courts cannot solve, however much they like to,” he said. “The country can ill afford to be governed through court decrees,” he said. Arguing that any attempt to pass such writs/orders would not only be “grossly undemocratic” but would be most hazardous as courts do not have the expertise or the...