Judicial Accountability: The Eternal Dilemma

Abstract

The deliberation on the lack of transparency and the vociferous demand for a mechanism to ensure accountability in public life has gathered momentum in the recent past. Judicial independence and accountability are the prerequisites for a transparent judiciary enjoying public confidence, which is the hallmark of a healthy democracy. This article seeks to examine the relationship between accountability and independence of the judiciary in view of the need and urgency of transparency, due to various controversies surrounding the Judiciary. The apparent dichotomy between the two is also elaborated. It is premised that judicial independence has an inextricable relationship with judicial accountability. The dichotomy between the two is rather superimposed and the need of the hour is to dispel this very myth. Viewing accountability to be at loggerheads with independence overlooks their subtle relationship. The former, if unbridled, leads to a crisis of legitimation of the law, posing a challenge for the judiciary to establish its independence. The element of accountability, thus, needs to be secured steadfastly and must be seen as a supplement of independence, and not a hindrance thereto.