Judges go by Constitutional morality, not popular morality: CJI DY Chandrachud

The fact that the judges are not elected by the people is not a deficiency of the judiciary but rather its strength, Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud said on Saturday..Hence, judiciary while deciding cases are not accountable to the people like legislature or executive, he said."We are not an elected arm of the State and for a reason. The elected arm and the executive are important. They are accountable to the people. The legislature is answerable to parliament and I respect that as a judge and CJI. But it is equally important to recognise the role that judges play. The fact that we are not elected is not a deficiency in our process but a strength in our process." said the CJI.Consequently, judges while deciding cases will not worry about how society would perceive their judgments. Rather, they will go by Constitution morality instead of popular morality, he said."Courts have to espouse broad values like fraternity, liberty equality - we exercise a stabilising influence on the legal system. In some societies power of the gun has taken over. Courts are a platform for engagement where people feel they will have a space to exchange views and ideas to produce new synthesis and change. Judges go by Constitutional morality not popular morality," he said.The CJI was speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2023. .The CJI further stated that a judgment of the Supreme Court cannot be overruled by the legislature only because they think that verdict is incorrect. Rather, it can only cure a defect by enacting law. "What legislature cannot do is to overrule a judgment because they think a judgment is wrong. But if the court has interpreted the law in a certain way, it is always open to the legislature to cure that defect This has been happening often in tax arena. Validating acts are perfectly permissible, but directly overruling a judgment is impermissible," he said. .With reference to the age of retirement of judges, CJI Chandrachud stated that judges must retire as it is "too much of a responsibility to cast on human beings, by postulating on their infallibility, by saying they should not retire." "It is important to pass on the mantle to succeeding generations who can point out errors of the past and rejig the social legal framework for society to evolve," said the CJI.