Judiciary is no exception to corruption: HC judge

Karnataka High Court Justice H N Nagamohan Das on Sunday said even the judiciary was not devoid of corruption.

“The challenge of corruption is serious in nature. Apart from the political and executive, even the judiciary is no exception to corruption,” he said.

The web of corruption has spread to all walks of life, said Justice Das, while addressing members of the All India Lawyers Union on the challenges ahead for the Indian constitution.

Corruption has become a way of life in the country, he said. “Such is the mentality these days of people in society that they carry an extra sum of money to ensure that their job is done. A person who wishes to push his files through the government table believes that a certain amount of corruption will only help his or her cause.”

Justice Das said that the political apathy had eaten into the fabric of society. "I cannot say that all political leaders and political parties are bad, but certain elements in the system are a big challenge to the validity of the Constitution," he said.

Over the past five years, discussions and debates in Parliament had deteriorated he said, contrasting this to the Constituent Assembly debates. The 1948 the draft Constitution committee had made 7,648 amendments to the Constitution.

"The Parliament has been passing bills without discussion. The Finance Bill was passed in 20 minutes when Somanath Chatterjee was the Speaker. Even state legislatures are no different," he lamented.

He believed commercialisation was eroding India’s moral fabric. “From health to education to water and housing, everywhere commercialisation has become the norm.

The country is increasingly moving towards market driven economy which puts a notion of profit and loss on every thing in
society,” he said.