Judiciary plays proactive role when executive fails

Shimla, March 6: It's not the institutional duty of the

to play a proactive role, outgoing Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice Kurian Joseph said here on Wednesday.

"The judiciary has to take proactive role when the executive fails to perform," Justice Joseph told reporters.

Mincing no words, he said "it becomes priority (for the judiciary to intervene) when other pillars of the democracy are not doing their duty and democracy is in danger".

Chief Justice Joseph, who has been elevated to the Supreme Court, said people have high expectations from the judiciary and it should live up to their aspirations.

Describing the judiciary as a watchdog, he said: "A watchdog barks to invite the attention of the master to protect the master. The master under the constitution is the public. We are only discharging institutional duty."

Referring to the backlog of cases, he said 57,000 cases were disposed off in the past three years.

"The quantum of the work taken up by the high court is important but not the pendency. Employees in Himachal have a litigation culture. They feel like running to the court for every little aspect," he said.

"The state government lacks in-house mechanism for solution to disputes relating to the employees. It wastes a lot of money and time due to which development suffers. It does not reflect good governance," he said.

IANS