The first thing we learn in Management is that Authority and Responsibility go hand in hand.
And if this were to be violated, it could lead to a Management disaster.
Our Supreme Court has stuffed itself unilaterally all the Authority in the Country without an iota of Responsibility.
They elect themselves, appoint themselves, but are not accountable for their actions. It is virtually impossible to impeach them.
They pass judgement after judgement, which borders on absurd, and are clearly judicial over reach. And then they wash their hands off passing the buck to the Executive to implement impossible judgement.
In rare cases, they take it upon themselves to rectify a situation, and end up with egg on their face.
Let us take the case of Subrata Roy of Sahara Group. He defrauded investors and was asked to pay back Rs 24,000 crore by SC. He had enough assets to cover the amount. It is common sense that SC would seize his assets and auction them, right? Wrong! He was put in jail, and then we went through the absurd scenario of him being allowed to run his business from Jail, have meetings to sell of his assets, and seek extension after extension. This drama is now going on for years!
Another mess SC has created is in BCCI. Just because it is a cash rich, high profile body, SC intervened and appointed COA who were supposed to implement SC directives. Well they are doing it for the past 2 years and no one knows when they will finish. In the meanwhile, BCCI has lost its clout with ICC, which took years to build up, and is reduced to a laughing stock, trying to operate with its hands and legs tied. Less said about the COA members, the better. SC stated that no one above 70 should be an official. Fair enough. But last heard Vinod Rai, who heads COA, has passed 70, and is still continuing.
5 Senior most judges breached professional discipline, and conducted a press conference against the then CJI requesting that Roster should be managed by the group of 5 Senior Judges. No action was taken against them. And one of them was promoted to become the next CJI! Now that Ranjan Gogoi is the CJI, he continues to be the Master of Roster, and every one is happy. What happened to the concept of Senior Judges collectively deciding on the Roster?
SC has given an erroneous judgement in the Sabarimala case. The protests at the ground level, led by Women who apparently were supposed to have 'benefited' from the judgement, has shown a mirror to the SC. And the SC did not consider it important to take up the Review Petition on a priority basis, when a whole State was in turmoil, but rather went for their Pooja Break!! Talk about Accountability.
We are seeing SC judgement being thrown to dogs by Government and People in many cases. And this does not augur well for SC. They have become a laughing stock.
It is time we brought in accountability to SC functioning.
