New Delhi: Senior Advocate and the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Dushyant Dave said today that it is imperative that the Judiciary plays a proactive role during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Dave said that the Constitution of India provides for checks and balances for the three pillars of democracy - the Legislature, the Executive, and the Judiciary. These checks and balances, he said, mean that no decision of the government is "unreviewable".
In light of this, it was imperative for the Judiciary to act proactively, Dave said.
Dave was delivering a talk on the topic Contribution by the Bar in the contemporary scenario, in a webinar hosted by DeBrief. A question was posed to him on the role of the Judiciary during times of crisis, with particular reference to the recent suo motu case in the Supreme Court on the issue of migrant workers.
Dave said that the Prime Minister announced a nationwide lockdown at a mere four hour notice, which led to great misery for people who were not prepared for the same. Asserting that the decisions of the Executive can be reviewed by the Judiciary, Dave said that the Supreme Court should have intervened sooner to say that the imposition of lockdown should have been done with at least a week's notice.
Due to the announcement of lockdown at such short notice, Dave said that migrant workers were stranded in the cities they migrated to. At a time when the situation is getting worse, the government is transporting them back to their villages where the health and medical infrastructure is not optimum and the means of livelihood is non-existent, he added.
The Judiciary, Dave said, is expected to be the watchdog of the Executive's actions and inactions and it has failed to fulfil this duty conferred on it by the Constitution in the last eight weeks or so.
The Judiciary should have acted in a "meaningful and positive" manner and had it acted earlier, the result would have been better than the situation we are facing today, Dave said.
