We all need to be part of the crusade to ensure that the judiciary remains free from any political interference or manipulation whatsoever. The loyalty of every judge in our country has to be only to the very sacred Constitution of India. As those in power want to overpower the judiciary too, there is a very disturbing disquiet over the slippery slope, down which judicial values are slithering. To ensure the highest standards of judicial independence and to ward off even the faintest trace of governmental influence on the judiciary, there needs to be at least a two-year “cooling-off period" for retiring judges before they accept any posting after retirement.
No Government must dangle a carrot or put a price on the heads of our judiciary or senior civil servants to perform in a way that bends the rules. The need for the rule of law and separation of powers between the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary is paramount in any democracy for good governance to prevail. An independent judiciary can properly enforce the rule of law only if it is characterized by impartiality and integrity. As judicial independence of judges rests entirely on maintaining an incorruptible detachment from the government of the day, it cannot be allowed to be morally compromised by lobbying for cushy post-retirement sinecure postings. We have witnessed instances where judges have fixed their retirement nests much prior to even demitting office.
