Underscoring the role of public institutions enshrined in the Constitution, Supreme Court judge Justice PS Narasimha on Sunday said that “Fourth branch institutions (such as EC, CAG, Union and State Public Service Commissions, and SC, ST, National Commissions, and OBCs) of civil servants and judges There shouldn’t be a retirement home.”
“Domain expertise and capacity building is a constant detriment to the institutional structure. Diversity in structure is also overlooked in many cases. It is important to realize that fourth branch institutions cannot be retirement homes for civil servants and judges,” he said.
Justice Narasimha was addressing the second edition of the Justice ES Venkataramiya Centenary Memorial Lecture organized by the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru.
Speaking about the importance of the Election Commission, Justice Narasimha said that the framers of the constitution had deliberately ensured that the elections would be conducted by bodies ‘outside the executive’.
“In retrospect, we can imagine the disasters if this had not been done. I am amazed at the foresight of our constitution makers to be able to appoint so many Election Commissioners above and beyond the Chief Election Commissioner and to constitute the Commission,” he said.
Former CJI ES Venkataramiah’s daughter and Supreme Court judge BV Nagarathana also spoke at the event. She recalled several of her father’s landmark decisions on press freedom, including Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) (P) Ltd. v. Union of India.
“As long as the court sits, newspapermen need not fear that their freedom will be curtailed through unconstitutional means,” Justice Venkataramiah had said in the judgment.
“After his retirement, Justice ESV was not interested in sinecures and spent his time with various organizations. NLS was closest to his heart where he enjoyed teaching and interacting with bright young minds. He taught at NLS until he passed,” she said.
Supreme Court Justice Arvind Kumar, Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court NV Anjaria, former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Mukul Mudgal were other judges present at the event.
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