Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant has said that “Rule of Law” bakes no bread but disciplines power, ensures equality, and checks arbitrary government action.
Delivering the keynote address at an event titled “Safeguarding the Rule of Law – Experiences from India and Sweden”, organised by International IDEA in Stockholm, the CJI said that an independent judiciary and judicial review were vital to uphold constitutional values and prevent abuse of power.
Returning to Sweden a year after his talk on Human Rights, the CJI linked India’s constitutional journey to the world’s longest written Constitution. He called it a “tessellation of rights” built after 1947 amid colonial legacies and inequality, with an independent judiciary as the ultimate safeguard. “Courts cannot be spectators,” he said, noting judicial review is a duty, not power, under Articles 32 and 226 of the Indian Constitution.
Rejecting the idea that judicial independence is a Western import, CJI Kant invoked King Prahlada, who ruled against his own son to uphold Dharma. “Justice endures only when the judge is insulated from pressure,” he said.
He outlined landmark doctrines: Basic Structure in Kesavananda Bharati (1973), federalism in SR Bommai (1994), and PIL in SP Gupta, which unlocked “epistolary jurisdiction”. He cited Hussainara Khatoon freeing 40,000 undertrials, Maneka Gandhi expanding Article 21, and MC Mehta creating “absolute liability” for environmental harm.
The Chief Justice emphasised judicial self-restraint, saying “The Court doesn’t sit as a super-executive.” The judiciary’s strength, he concluded, lies in knowing when “deference and restraint are the highest expressions of constitutional fidelity”.
The speech frames Indian judicial activism as rooted in ancient Dharma, not borrowed Western ideals, pushing back on post-colonial critiques. His emphasis on judicial self-restraint signals the Court’s attempt to balance expansive review powers with respect for legislative-executive domains amid separation-of-powers debates.
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