Judiciary

One of the most frequent visitors to this newspapers office are people not happy with court judgments.

However, in most cases the paper advises the litigants to appeal to higher courts or the relevant appellate authorities.

This is because it is important to respect and trust the judiciary and it is rare that both parties will be happy with a verdict.

Another factor is that while the Judiciary is seen to be vested with enormous powers, it is also the most fragile of the three branches of government with a lot of workload on the shoulders of judges and they can be vulnerable to excessive public criticism and opinion. Judges are human beings after all.

Judges do not have the luxury of party workers and supporters like politicians with the vast government machinery and budget under them or the implementation and quiet power of the bureaucrats.

The judgments of judges are also subject to scrutiny by higher courts or even public opinion in certain cases.

Therefore, it is all the more important for the judiciary to be credible and consistent in what it does.

The Supreme Court changing its own judgment after four months is a rare or the first instance and it should be doing it only on the rarest of grounds and not because a Lam wants to pay less.

It will not do that people across the country are locked up for small and big sums of money, but a certain influential former Lam is given excessive and unending extensions with no final date by the Supreme Court.

It undermines the authority of the Supreme Court and its verdict and it raises the question of the courts powers to give additional time at the enforcement stage of the judgment.

Ironically there are cases where some parties are kept in jail even when the opposing party is willing to provide additional time as the court wants to strictly implement the verdict and enforcement order.

However, in the case of the Lam, extensions are being given even without the consent of the other party.

The Supreme Court is the court of precedence as every action and judgment by it is cited as practice and precedent in future cases. It will be a sad day if its actions don’t live up to the high standards expected of the Judiciary.

The Supreme Court must remember that everybody is equal before the law and the same law should be applied to all.

All the rights secured to the citizens under the Constitution are worth nothing, and a mere bubble, except guaranteed to them by an independent and virtuous Judiciary.
Andrew Jackson