My Lord vs. Speaker Saheb: The Troubled Relationship between the Judiciary and the Legislature: Sarat Bose Lecture by Justice Dr. S. Muralidhar
Gopal Krishna
My Lord vs. Speaker Saheb: The Troubled Relationship between the Judiciary and the Legislature: Sarat Bose Lecture by Justice Dr. S. Muralidhar
Is the majority with the government, and logic with the opposition?
The Tenth Schedule has resulted in power being shifted away from the individual legislator to the leadership of political parties. As one legal scholar notes, it has brought about a shift from a candidate-centric to party-centric model of representation. With the whip in place the ruling party legislator has to simply toe the line. Either he is disruptive in the house to attract attention or has to shift his activity from the legislative arena to the election arena. With the MPLADS in place the legislator is likely to focus on spending those funds to publicise himself or herself as a servant of the people. Also, in terms of the law election spending, there is a greater control through law on individual candidates rather than on parties. An individual candidate has to depend on his own sources and therefore the tendency to accumulate illicit wealth. The loss of character is inevitable.
We also have to try and understand why there are friction points between the courts and the legislators. Judges do have adjustment issues when it comes to both caste and class and a sense of superiority in terms of learning and experience vis-a-vis legislators who are people’s representatives. In the rarified atmosphere in which they function, and in the circles in which they socialise, they are naturally removed from the rough and tumble of daily life. It should not be surprising that some of them give a distinct impression of being out of touch with ground realities. In this scenario, it is difficult to imagine judges considering legislators as co-equals who occupy positions in another constitutional organ of co-equal weight. When Speakers are therefore entrusted with adjudicatory functions, judges are easily inclined to act as their appellate authorities.
All this could possibly explain why the legislator today commands little respect either among the general populace or among judges. Even judges too realise that their standing is not what it used to be four or five decades ago. This is not to say that all legislators and all judges are of the same ilk. There are fine exemplars among them too and hopefully they will be the role models for those that follow. In fact, I personally am of the view that there are many politicians and many judges, as there have been in the past, who take their tasks seriously, adhere to the constitutional values and try and give their best. They are to be admired that in the midst of the general morass of an amoral political class and a general regression in societal values, they have the courage and the conviction to hold their own. They need to be identified and encouraged so that they may inspire the next generation of aspirants.
In the end we must live in the hope of a better tomorrow. It might be useful to sign off by recalling these words from the advisory opinion of the Supreme Court way back in 1964:
“It is necessary to remember that the status, dignity and importance of the two institutions, the Legislature and the Judicature, are derived primarily from the status, dignity and importance of the respective causes that are assigned to their charge by the Constitution. These two bodies as well as the executive which is another important constituent of a democratic State, must function not in antinomy nor in a spirit of hostility, but rationally, harmoniously and in a spirit of understanding within their respective spheres, for such harmonious working of the three constituents of the democratic State alone will help the peaceful development, growth and stabilization of the democratic way of life in this Country.”
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Justice Dr. S. Muralidhar, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India and the 32nd Chief Justice of Orissa High Court delivered the lecture at Netaji Bhavan, Kolkata, on 10th January, 2026
For complete text of the lecture: My Lord vs. Speaker Saheb: The Troubled Relationship between the Judiciary and the Legislature: Sarat Bose Lecture by Justice Dr. S. Muralidhar