Powers and functions of the judiciary.
Powers and functions of the judiciary.
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Powers and functions of the judiciary.
The judiciary establishes justice in society, protects the fundamental rights and human rights of the people, and prevents the tyranny of the government. Lord Bryce has commented that the independence and impartiality of the judiciary is the standard of judging the excellence of the government. Alan Ball has divided the functions of the judiciary into four parts; namely - (a) constitutional interpretation and judicial discussion, (b) resolving disputes between different individuals, institutions, governments and political and social organizations, (c) preserving the political system and (d) establishing fundamental rights and human rights.
In modern democratic states, the nature of democracy depends on the independence and impartiality of the judiciary. If the judiciary cannot perform its duties independently and impartially or is corrupt, then both civil rights and the future of democracy are hampered. However, adjudicating cases is not the only function of the judiciary. The work of the judiciary is multifaceted. They are -
1. Interpretation of the Constitution:-
In various cases in different courts, important questions regarding the interpretation of the Constitution are involved. When such a situation arises, the judiciary has to perform the important responsibility of constitutional interpretation.
2. Protector of the Constitution:-
Sometimes, the legislature is forced to enact laws against the public interest under pressure from the executive. But the judiciary is aware of all these laws against the public interest and repeals them or suggests changes. The judiciary always keeps an eye on the basic principles and ideals of the constitution so that they are not damaged.
3. Ever-vigilant guardian of democracy:-
The foundation of a democratic system depends on the judiciary. An impartial judiciary prevents the tyranny of the government, establishes justice, protects the fundamental rights of people - thus the judiciary protects democracy.
4. Establishment of justice:-
A large number of cases are filed in every court of every country in the world throughout the year. The judiciary establishes justice in the society by impartially resolving all those cases and maintaining people's trust in the judicial system. The judiciary establishes justice in the society without bowing to the pressure of the political and administrative departments.
5. Dispute Resolution: -
In addition to adjudicating cases, the judiciary has to resolve various types of disputes. For example - disputes between one or more states with the central government, disputes between one state and one or more other states, disputes between several states with several states, disputes between the legislative department and the executive - etc.
6. Law enforcement: -
Not only is it the job of the judiciary to carry out judicial work with the help of existing laws - along with that, it is also the job of the judiciary to punish the lawbreakers according to law. At present, no other department or organization of the government except the judiciary can punish citizens.
7. Protection of Fundamental Rights:-
The executive branch often adopts an authoritarian attitude and wants to restrict the fundamental rights and other civil rights of citizens, and wants to suppress the voices of opposition. This involves personal and party interests and fascist mentality. Therefore, the judiciary has the most important responsibility in protecting the fundamental rights of people against these situations.
8. Giving instructions:-
The judiciary can give instructions to any person, organization, institution, state and central government to perform their respective functions properly. Even the higher court can give such instructions to the lower court. Disobeying this order of the court becomes a punishable offense of contempt of court.
9. Giving advice:-
The judiciary can provide advice to the legislature and executive branches in various fields. Again, sometimes the legislature and executive branches seek advice from the judiciary. However, the advice given by the judiciary is not binding on the legislative or the executive branch.
10. Power to issue writs:-
The power to issue writs is the most important power of the judiciary to protect the fundamental rights of the people. The judiciary can order any arresting authority to bring the arrested person to court. Due to this power of the judiciary, the fundamental rights of the people are protected and the tyranny of the government can be prevented.
11. Judge-made laws:-
Among the cases that are filed in the courts, there are some that cannot be resolved with the help of existing laws. In that situation, the judges try those cases by interpreting various laws and through the judgments given by the court earlier. As a result, new laws are created. These are called judge-made laws.
12. Power of appointment:-
The judiciary appoints a large number of employees to run its affairs. All the powers related to their appointment and dismissal are in the hands of the judiciary.
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