Criticism of court rulings should be constructive: HC judge

Bombay High Court Judge Abhay Oka has said every citizen has a right to comment on judgements of courts but any criticism of their rulings should be constructive and based on well-thought reasoning.

There can be public opinion on any verdict by courts but criticism should be constructive and based on detailed reading of the judgement, Justice Oka said here last night.

He was speaking at a symposium on the topic `Courts and government and the limits of their rights'.

The symposium was organised as a part of the 125th year celebration of the MH High School here.

In his speech, Justice Oka said nowadays most of the criticisms of court rulings are made without any study.

He said the judiciary was like any other institution and prone to making mistakes.

The judge maintained that if courts give verdicts to redress the grievances of citizens that cannot be called an act of judicial overreach.

As regards to the long time taken for deciding cases, he said India faces shortage of judges. In India, there were only 17-18 judges per 10 lakh people, where as it is around 50 in the US.