Still playing around with HC directives!

Insofar as the implementation status goes, the standard plethora of time extensions sought and virtually extracted by the government from the court to ostensibly complete the process of separation of powers has been replaced by a phase of complications. This leaves one wondering how longer still the government might take to extricate the executive from the judiciary.

The issue now is the structural separation of the magistracy from the executive without which there cannot be any independence of the judiciary. A full bench of the Supreme Court has expressed its dismay over the draft rules which had been sent to the President for approval earlier on. These were prepared by the nine bureaucrats who had come under a contempt rule for having distorted the directives of the Supreme Court on the separation of judiciary. The 'hide-and-seek policy' of the government on the question of implementing the specific directive on judicial service is evidenced by the fact that the BCS (admn) cadre officials are still performing judicial functions as magistrates, clearly as an adjunct to the executive authority.

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The government side is trying to defend the indefensible. They are claiming to have achieved a partial implementation of the court's directives. If for a truncated implementation, they have spent more than five years, then the inescapable question is: how long might they take for a fuller compliance with the HC directions? Overall, it is essential to realise that the independence of judiciary is indivisible admitting of no partial fulfilment. The administration's dithering on the whole issue has reached a farcical proportion. How long before we see an end to it?