Curtains fall on Supreme Court’s Diamond Jubilee year

“We are convinced that the work of the Supreme Court will be done in no spirit of formal or barren legalism.” These were the words of H.J. Kania, India’s first Chief Justice, at the Court’s inauguration ceremony in 1950. 

Today, 75 years to the day, India’s 51st Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna recalled Justice Kania’s speech in his address to the Ceremonial Bench which had gathered to celebrate the completion of the Diamond Jubilee year. The Chief was accompanied by the 32 other judges who are currently serving alongside him in the top court. Also in attendance were Attorney General R. Venkataramani, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, President of the Supreme Court Bar Association Kapil Sibal and other members of the Bar. 

Courtroom 1 was packed on the sides of both Bar and Bench. Some of our advocate friends who wanted to witness the proceedings were stranded outside the room, unable to get in. Here are highlights from the special session. 

Venkataramani: “An occasion for planning and laying roadmaps”

In his brief speech, Attorney General R. Venkataramani highlighted that this day deserved celebration because of the Court’s “endurance”. “Seventy-five years of constitutional rule with no serious breakdown is no mean achievement,” he declared. 

While referring to the Constitution’s “flexibility” and its “transformative character,” the Attorney General recalled the words of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in 1949: “The first thing, in my judgement, we must do is to hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving our social and economic objectives.” 

The AG also stated that the Court’s milestone was also an occasion to remember how “fissures and fractures have perilously exposed several nations to constitutional and democratic breakdowns.” He ended his speech by stating that the legal fraternity of India, a “proud partner in the journey”, will continue to “chronicle our genius to the rest of the world.”

Sibal: “Does the Court retain elements of what made it great?”

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal followed Venkataramani. He commenced his speech with a tribute to the sacrifice of the freedom fighters, who won independence from an empire through the “weapon of non-violence.” He highlighted the many jurisprudential strides made by the Supreme Court—from recognising the Basic Structure doctrine to paving the way for Public Interest Litigation to evolving its curative jurisdiction. 

Romesh Thapar, Champakam Dorairajan, Kesavananda Bharati and Navtej Johar were among the landmark decisions he lauded the Court for. In the same breath, he also noted the instances in which the Court had “erred”: there were times when it didn’t step in when it had to and others when it stepped in when it had no authority to. Referring to the decision in ADM Jabalpur as an “indelible stain”, he said that it was an occasion where the Court “did not heed the wisdom of the High Courts and ended all constitutional means to combat the Emergency.” 

Sibal highlighted the importance of the judiciary’s courage and independence while also suggesting that there had been a change in its perception. In its 75 years, Sibal continued, the Court had seen many “brave judges”—he named Justices Mukherjea, Bose, Subba Rao, Hidayatullah, Krishna Iyer, Venkatachaliah. He singled out Justice Khanna, who dissented in ADM Jabalpur, noting that “there can be no better example of judicial independence and courage.”

“Does the Court retain the elements of what has made it so great in the past?” he asked. He said that the “elements” would be retained if the Court addressed the case backlog and lived up to the doctrine of open justice. “The power of argument must prevail over the argument of power,” he said. 

Referring to the polyvocality which has often been praised by judges, Sibal said that it was important to ensure that “15 courtrooms do not become 15 different courts.” There is truth in Sibal’s words of caution. In recent years, different benches have often passed conflicting judgements. Sometimes, they have even directly overruled each other. This has contributed to the increase in backlog. 

“This Court must be the champion of our Constitution and must bring to light the constitutional morality hiding within the gold print of the articles of the Constitution,” Sibal said. He ended his speech by saying that the members of the Bar and the judges owed their allegiance to the rule of law and its upholding was their solemn responsibility. 

CJI Khanna: “An embodiment of the aspirations of 1.4 billion”

In his speech, Chief Justice Khanna traced the evolution of the Court over seven-and-a-half decades. “What began in 1950 as a successor to the Federal Court has evolved into perhaps the world’s most vibrant and dynamic apex court.” 

“Each decade of our Court’s jurisprudence serves as a mirror of our nation’s challenges,” he said. In the 1950s, which he called the “sunrise years”, he noted that the Court’s “monumental task was to transform a newly independent nation into embodying the values, the ethos and morality of the Constitution.” 

The 1960s, he said, were the “years of anchorage as well as discovery.” The significant judicial event of this decade turned on the interpretation of the word “law” under Article 13. This spilled over into the 1970s, until the Court famously evolved the Basic Structure doctrine in Kesavananada Bharati. 

CJI Khanna highlighted the evolution of the Court’s PIL jurisprudence as a tool to ensure social justice in the 1970s and 1980s. He highlighted landmark judgements like Hussainara Katoon, which recognised the rights of undertrial prisoners, and Bandhua Mukti Morcha, which categorised bonded labour as violative of the right to life. 

No mention of the 1970s would be complete without referring to the Emergency. In its initial years, CJI Khanna noted, the Court viewed all fundamental rights as operating in “exclusive silos”—it took the judgement in Maneka Gandhi for the Court to come up with the important interpretation that Articles 14, 19 and 21 were “not mutually exclusive.”

The CJI referred to the 1990s as the “era of consolidation and expansion for fundamental rights.” In this decade, he noted that the Court stepped in not only to uphold human rights but also to address legislative and executive gaps. As an example, he cited the decision in Unni Krishnan, which recognised that the right to education flows naturally from the right to life. He highlighted the evolution of environmental-related doctrines in this decade: the public trust doctrine, the polluter pays principle and the idea of sustainable development. He also referred to Vishaka, where the Court laid down a set of guidelines to prevent sexual harassment at the workplace—this led to the establishment of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at the Workplace Act in 2013. 

The Chief said that the two decades of the 21st century, “stand as a testament to the Supreme Court’s evolving role in a constitutional framework.” “No other Court navigates such an expansive domain,” he said, highlighting the strides the Court has made in cases concerning personal liberty, environmental rights, intellectual property, the right to privacy and the right to information. In this period, he noted that the Court had also “strived to strengthen alternative dispute resolution.” 

In conclusion, the Chief noted that the Supreme Court has “transformed constitutional promise into reality through its judgements” and made “social, economical and political justice” a “living reality for millions of Indians.”

(Note: We have traced many of the landmarks and transformations mentioned in today’s speeches in a year-long special series. Do go through our set of 12 articles that thematically document the Court’s 75-year-journey through a cultural and critical lens. Read all the articles here.)