An Independent Institutions Bill remains a long-unrealised constitutional aspiration | The Indian Express

An Independent Institutions Bill remains a long-unrealised constitutional aspiration | The Indian Express

Written by Tarunabh Khaitan |Updated: March 16, 2019 9:17:42 am

<em>The writer, an associate professor in law at the University of Oxford and Hackney Fellow in law at Wadham College, is author of ‘A Theory of Discrimination Law’</em>

An Independent Institutions Bill remains a long-unrealised constitutional aspiration

The Opposition should put its money where its mouth is. An Independent Institutions Bill should feature in their manifestoes

An independent institutions bill should seek the following objectives: One, multi-partisan appointments, two, operational independence and impartiality, and three, accountability to the legislature rather than the executive. (Illustration by CR Sasikumar)

The independence and credibility of our (admittedly imperfect) state institutions have never been so thoroughly in doubt since the Emergency. Characterised as the fourth branch of the state — because of their distinctiveness from the executive, legislature and judiciary — these institutions are tasked with the protection of key constitutional values such as democracy, legality, impartiality, probity, human rights and price stability. While Chapter Nine of the South African Constitution explicitly guarantees independence to the fourth branch of the state, the Indian Constitution does so implicitly by expecting Parliament to enact a law prescribing detailed mechanisms for appointments to and functioning of such institutions — for example, through Articles 280(2) and 324(2). However, an Independent Institutions Bill remains a long-unrealised constitutional aspiration.