SCBA prez lashes out at judiciary for failing people during COVID-19 pandemic

Supreme Court Bar Association President and senior advocate Dushyant Dave on Saturday lashed out at the top court for failing the people of the country during the COVID-19 pandemic by not questioning the executive in redressing grievances of millions of migrant workers.

"Nobody wants the judiciary to interfere in the daily functioning of the executive but the judiciary must hold the executive answerable. When it came to the large migrant labour population of the country, the Judiciary has failed us," he said in a webinar on the 'role of the judiciary in a pandemic'.

Maintaining that judges can't sit in ivory tower blind-folded to miseries of citizens, he said this is the time for the judges to galvanize themselves and there was no better way that the judges can serve the people right now during this pandemic.

"It is really sad that the Supreme Court, instead of reminding the executive that they are answerable for their actions, reminded the people of the country during the lockdown that they can be punished for violating the lockdown rules under Disaster management Act," he said.

Dave said the pandemic has given the opportunity to the judiciary to rise to the occasion and prove that it is proactive. It really gave the judiciary a chance to win over the hearts of the people by taking proactive steps in the time of crisis and earn back the respect it once commanded.

He also rued there has been no dialogue between the Supreme Court bench and the Supreme Court Bar regarding how to energise and synergise better functioning of the court in such a pandemic and crisis.

He said the media blamed the Nizamuddin Markaz for the spread of COVID-19 but it did not question why the government allowed the attendees to come into India in March. "Sadly even the judiciary went completely silent," he said.

Dave said nobody in media held a debate on why the Prime Minister declared lockdown with such short notice, and why preparation for pandemic did not begin sooner and such.

"Crisis cannot be simply overlooked by us as lawyers, citizens, civil society and certainly not by judges. We will be failing the nation if we overlook the situation and history will remember India as not a democracy that protects rights of the people but as a country that protected those in power," he said.