President and the governor are the only two constitutional offices who have oaths different than the Vice-President, the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister, Members of Parliament, Members of Assembly, or other functionaries like judges.

Because all of us, the Vice President, the Prime Minister and others, we take oath to abide by the Constitution.  But the Hon’ble President and the  Hon’ble Governor,  they take oath  to preserve,  protect, and defend the Constitution.  Am I clear?  So their oath is not only very distinct, their oath is obligating them with the onerous task of preserving, protecting, and defending the Constitution.  I hope there is realization all around about this constitutional ordainment for the post of the Governor. I have been privileged to this post for three years alongside him in the state of West Bengal.

Second, what stands out, the President and the Governor,  apart from the rest of us,  like the Vice-President, Prime Minister and Chief  Ministers  is  only these two designations of immunity from prosecution.  No one else has.  While they hold office, they are  immune to any prosecution,  pending  or contemplated, and I am so happy and delighted that Shri Rajendra V. Arlekar is setting very high standards as Governor  because a governor is easy punching bag.

I have had the great opportunity today to interact with brilliant young minds. The academic community of NUALS.  I am engaging with whom?  Who are future sentinels of justice, torchbearers of constitutional values, and architects of more equitable Bharat. You will be defining what Bharat will be  when we celebrate centenary  of our independence  as a developed nation at 2047.

But let me tell you, coming to Kerala is always a matter of pleasure to me. Very satisfaction. A land that has gifted India with many luminous minds and upright public servants.

 You have  a very amiable Chief Minister. At the moment he's out of country. But every time I interact with him, I learn a lot.  Another reason where I remember Kerala very frequently is that nine members from Kerala to Rajya Sabha Council of States, each of them is taking the job very seriously and causing no disruption or disturbance.

Let me remind you what we learned from our Constituent Assembly.  Constituent assembly crafted constitution for us and it was for  little less than three years.  They engaged in debate, dialogue, discussion, deliberation, but never in  disturbance or disruption, something which you must learn.

Let me unravel the task before I come to other aspects. I will be calling upon you to engage into two activities.  To write an essay on why we celebrate Constitution Day. On 26th November, why?  When was it started?  What does it count for us?  You write an essay. I'll share the email ID with the Vice-Chancellor where you will send it within next 15 days. You will write another essay on Samvidhan Hatya Diwas  that reminds you of the draconian period of emergency proclamation  on 25th June 1975.

Now these are fundamental because  these are related to Constitutionalism. You will have to think aloud what happened in 42nd Constitution Amendment  Act. What happened in 44 and what was left over? Why lakhs were jailed without access to judiciary?  How come 9 High Courts decided in favour of the citizen but the Supreme Court, the highest court of the land, us? 

In  ADM Jabalpur case  and reversed  indicating two things.  it is absolute prerogative of the executive  to impose emergency  and to impose emergency for as much time it takes. In 75, it was 20 plus months. And during the proclamation of emergency period, there will be no access to judiciary. So we forfeited at that point of time our total claim to be a democratic nation. That's where you stand.

Five each of those essays, the writers will be my guests at Indian Parliament, but let me tell you,  I will not be selecting which essay is good because all assays are bound to be good. I'll draw the lots in the presence of nine distinguished members of Rajya Sabha from your state. They will facilitate the visit also,  rest is my lookout. Second, why I named them and the  Hon’ble Chief Minister.

I'll be inviting you in batches  of 15 to 25  to look at the new building of Indian parliament.  How during challenging times of COVID we transacted so much on the ground  to reflect 5,000 years of our civilizational ethos and attain this in less than 30 months.

But you'll be my guest.  I'll have lunch with you.  Am I right?  The vice chancellor will decide the Constitution of the groups.  But I'm sure he'll keep some boys also because I see more girls here.

This state has the distinction  of giving to the country the first woman judge in the Supreme Court - Justice M. Fatima Beevi, but she has  two distinctions.  One,  she was a high court judge.  She has  retired.

 She was called to duty from retirement, and she became a judge of the Supreme Court for a very short period of two and a half years.

Another judge who becomes in the same category, it just is Bahrul Islam from Assam. From Kerala to Assam, he too was appointed as judge of the Supreme Court while having the tag of High Court Judge retired. So both of them had period less than two and a half years or around that.

You need to examine it.  These are credentials that must steer your mind. Kerala has several other situations  when we talk in historical perspective.

 When you talk of ancient trade,  Romans, Arabs, Chinese, to the complex legal developments of Portuguese, Dutch,  and British regimes,  Kochi has witnessed evolution of law,  which we can envy.  But when we look at our ancient history,  Dharamsastra,  Smriti,  Dharamsutra,  they define our jurisprudence.

 Boys and girls, you always have to remember, Bharat was not born  on 15th August 1947.

 We are a unique nation. 5,000 years of civilizational ethos, history, background,  treasure of knowledge,  Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas.  We had Institutions  like Nalanda, Takshashila,  and many more.  And right now, I can tell you two things.  Last few years have seen our development in this country at a scale which was not earlier there, And  India today  is the most  aspirational nation in the world because of its youth.

 I am more enamoured of you and interacting with you because our youth demographic dividend is envy of the world. We are 28 median age of our youth, China and the US, they are 10 years older to us, and therefore  you will control the destiny of this country.

Our growth engine will fire  on all cylinders  only with your participation but friends,  my young friends,  when we have the rise of this kind,  like extraordinary economic upsurge, phenomenal infrastructure growth,  deep digitization,  a global recognition and  accolades coming from all Institutions. There are bound to be challenges  and the challenges are  manifold but one thing which I am very fundamental is that we must have careers to confront problems. We must not rationalize failures. 

We must always remember we belong to a nation that has to define global narrative. We have to be architects of a world that lives in peace and harmony.

We must have  first courage  to  confront  uncomfortable truths  within our own institutions.  I take you as part of Judiciary.  Judiciary in our country commands immense trust,  immense respect of the people. People believe in judiciary like no other Institution.  If their  faith is  eroded, shaken in the Institution, We will be faced with a grim situation.

A nation of 1.4 billion will suffer, recent developments are  troublesome. They are worrisome. I'll come to them a little later. But my fundamental principle always has been, as a law student,  as a  lawyer,  as senior advocate, as Parliamentarian, as a Union minister,  as Governor of a state,  as Vice-President of the country currently,  that constitutional essence and spirit is optimally  nurtured and sustained,  and it blossoms  with each of the pillars of constitutional working if they act in tandem, togetherness and in harmony.

But  if the legislature, the executive and judiciary  are not on the same page,  if they are not in sync with each other,  if there is no harmony amongst them,  then the situation gets little worrisome.  And that is why as law students you will be  focusing on Doctrine of separation of powers.

The issue is not which is supreme.  Each institution of the Constitution is supreme  in its own area.  Let us make no mistake about it, but if one Institute-the Judiciary, the Executive, Legislature makes an incursion in the domain of the other. It has potential to upset the apple cart.  It can create unmanageable  problems  that can be potentially very dangerous for our democracy.

For example, let me give you in a layman's language,  adjudication has to take place with judiciary.  Judgments are to be scripted by judiciary,  not by legislature,  not by Executive. And similarly,  executive function is performed by whom? by the executive.  And why?  Because you elect the executive,  the political executive, through elections. They are accountable to you.

They have to perform.  They have to face elections, but if executive function is done by, let's say, legislature  or  judiciary,  that will be antithetical to the essence and spirit of Doctrine of separation of powers.  I am aghast  that a functionary of the executive, like the CBI director,  is appointed with the participation of Chief Justice of India?  Why?  And just think, and stir your minds.

CBI directly, not the senior most person in the hierarchy. He  has above him several layers,  C.V.C,  Cabinet Secretary, all Secretaries.  After all, he's heading a department.  You must  use your pen.  Is it happening elsewhere in the world?  Can it happen under our Constitutional scheme?  Why should an appointment of the executive be made by anyone else other than the executive. I strongly say so.

Another quite disturbing scenario is that we had turbulent times in judiciary recently, but good thing is,  soothing,  a big change has taken place.  We are seeing  good times now for judiciary.  The present Chief Justice and his predecessor, immediate predecessor gave us new area of accountability,  transparency.

They are getting things back on the rails.  But earlier two years were very disturbing,  were very challenging.  The normal system was not normal. Thoughtlessly several steps were taken,  it will take a while to undo them.

Because it is very fundamental that Institutions function with optimal performance. If Rajya Sabha engages in disruption and disturbance and does not function, well, that's a cause of worry. It will be alarmingly worrisome. But I am quite hopeful that things will look up. There has been lot of issue about preamble to the Constitution.

Well first let me tell you, preamble of Indian Constitution is something like parenthood to children. Howsoever you may try,  you can't change your parenthood. Am I right?  That's not possible. That is preamble. Secondly, historically no country's preamble has ever been changed.

Thirdly, preamble of our Constitution was changed during a time when hundreds and thousands of people were behind the bars. The darkest period of our democracy, the emergency era.  Then it was changed where the life of the Lok Sabha was also increased beyond five years.

It was changed at a time when people had no access to the justice system. Fundamental rights were totally suspended. You need to examine it. We may do anything,  we surely can't change our parents and we have to ever respect them.

My young friends, if you have heard of the Ides of March. Those of you who have read Julius Caesar, where the soothsayer cautioned Caesar, beware of Ides of March, and when the Caesar was going from the palace to the court room, He spotted the soothsayer and he said, I did so, March has come. And Caesar said, the soothsayer said, yes, but not gone, and before the day was over, Caesar was assassinated. Ides of March is associated with misfortune and doom.

Our judiciary had ides of March  on the night intervening 14th and 15th.  March,  a terrible time. There was cash all  at the residence of a judge in large quantum.  I say so because  it is now in public domain,  officially put up by the Supreme Court that at the official residence  of  a judge of the High Court,  cash in large amount was found.  Now the point is, if that cash was found, system should have moved immediately and the first process would have been to deal with it  as a criminal act.

Find out those who are culpable.  Bring them to justice, but so far, there has been no FIR. The government at the central level is handicapped because an FIR cannot be registered in view of a judgment of the Supreme Court rendered in early 90s, you must read that judgment.

I'm all for independence of judiciary.  I'm a strong votary of protecting judges.  Judges deal with very difficult situations. They decide  cases  against  the executive. They deal in certain areas with legislature matters.  We must  protect our judges from frivolous litigation. So I'm not against the mechanism  evolved, but when something like this happens.

Some things are worrisome.  The  incident took place,  boys and girls  on night intervening  14th and 15th  March,  we did not come to know about it.  It was only on 21st March  this year,  after about  seven days,  we came to know about this ghastly crime.

Now question arises,  did anyone know about it earlier?  Yes,  it was a  fire incident. The fire fighting mechanism was there, those involved with the system knew about it. Why it was not shared?  I am a concerned man.

whether this is an incident in isolation or there are other similar incidents.

That is something which we have to deal with.  I therefore strongly feel and have said it on multiple occasions, proceeding with the Constitutional mechanism of dealing with the judge in terms of constitutional provision is one way out.

But that is not a solution because we claim to be a democracy which we are.  The world looks as a mature democracy  where there has to be rule of law,  equality before law which means  every crime must be investigated.  If the money is so huge in volume, We have to find out,  is it tainted money? What is the source of this money?  How was it stocked in the official residence of a judge? It belonged to whom?

Several penal provisions are violated in the process. I do hope an FIR will be registered. We must go to the root of the matter because for the democracy it matters that our judiciary  in whom the faith  is unshakable. Its very foundations have been shaken.

The citadel is tottering because of this incident. And we must therefore examine the issue from that perspective, which I'm sure you  will surely be engaged into  examining this aspect. There are several other issues which you need to examine.  And one is,  always think ahead of your times.

There is a constitutional provision, if you can understand,  that  certain constitutional authorities are not permitted to hold assignment after their office- like a Public  Service Commission member cannot take any assignment under the government.

CAG can't take that assignment.  Chief Election Commissioner  and Election Commissioners can't take that assignment  because they must be free not to be subjected to allurements and temptations. This was not for Judges.  Why?  Because  judges were expected to be totally away from it.  And now we have post-retirement, post for Judges.  Am I right?

And not all can be accommodated, only some can be accommodated. So when you can't accommodate all, you accommodate some. There is pick and choose. When there is pick and choose, there is patronage. It is seriously impairing our judiciary.

I want you boys and girls, I have given you certain leads to get into a small group on a weekly basis and discuss these issues.

I should never be misunderstood as in any way saying something else which does not strengthen judiciary. I have given the best part of my life in Judiciary. I take bar as a part of Judiciary. I have enjoyed every moment of it, and lastly, before I conclude, boys and girls, your opportunity basket is enlarging by the day. Look around.

As law graduates, you'll have opportunities  to engage in policy making,  policy formations,  how to get involved with blue economy, space economy,  cyber security, all those issues are there.  So in a country like ours, which is developing at a very fast pace,  your future is assured. The ecosystem in the country is one full of hope and possibility. A situation which none of us had  when we were students.  Okay? So my offer is accepted?  So the contract is complete.  Am I right?  Contract is complete.  I'll seek the  Hon’ble members of Parliament Rajya Sabha  and  the administration of NUALS with the indulgent support of the two  Hon’ble Ministers to fructify it at the earliest.

Thank you so much.

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JK/RC/SM

(Release ID: 2142890)