We should not shy away from transparency: Tulsi

Chennai, Nov 5 (UNI) If total transparency in the matter of appointments to the Judiciary could be observed in the US, Canada, France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand, there was no reason why we must continue to shy away from the salient principle of transparency, said Senior Counsel K T S Tulsi.

Speaking at a National Seminar on Need for Transparency in Judicial Appointments and Judicial Accountablity, organised by All India Bar Association and Supreme Court Bar Association, here yesterday, Mr Tulsi said the proposed National Judicial Commission does not even begin to address the issue of transparency.

He said after all this was the same judiciary which had hailed the principle of transparency as a role model for governance and the greatest safeguard against arbitrary exercise of power in all spheres of administration.

Even if we do not find a system of partisan and non-partisan election of judges to be conducive to our conditions, the other extreme of closed door secretive method of selection was equally dangerous, he added.

Mr Tulsi said even limited transparency will usher in a lot of sunlight which was the greatest disinfectant against arbitrary selections. How can we expect greater representation if the High Courts were grossly disproportionate to their population. While SC/ST are to the tune of 26 per cent of the population, only four per cent of them sit on High Court benches.

He said while the BC are in excess of 50 per cent of the population, less than 10 per cent have been elevated. The worst case of discrimination was against the women. Only three per cent of them adorn the benches.

UNI XR KVV SY VC0844