SCBA prez slams Sanjeev Sanyal’s remarks on judiciary, calls them ‘immature’ and ‘irresponsible’

Days after Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) member Sanjeev Sanyal described the judiciary as the “biggest hurdle” in India’s journey towards ‘Viksit Bharat’, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Vikas Singh has termed it as “irresponsible” and “very immature”.

Maintaining that such observations reflected a lack of understanding of courts’ functioning, Singh said reducing complex structural issues to simplistic blame on the judiciary was misleading.

“To say that the judiciary is responsible for India’s developmental hurdles is very immature. The greater part of the ills in the system are actually because of the government,” he said, rejecting the criticism.

Noting that delays in justice delivery were often linked to inadequate infrastructure, low judicial salaries, and lack of quality appointments — areas where the government played a decisive role, Singh sought to highlight the frequent withholding or selectively clearing the Collegium’s recommendations by the Government, leading to poor appointments.

“If the government really wants to strengthen the judiciary, it must provide adequate infrastructure, better pay for judges, and a credible appointment process. Otherwise, blaming the judiciary alone is neither fair nor responsible,” Singh said.

Acknowledging that the judiciary needed improvement to improve investors’ confidence through speedy dispute resolution, the SCBA president asserted that it can’t justify branding the institution as the biggest obstacle to India’s development.

Regarding judicial vacations, he said judges spent their weekends reading files and writing judgments, and that without periodic breaks, there would be “a classic case of burnout”.

The Government should introduce a law to regulate the Collegium system to ensure transparency in judicial appointments without undermining judicial independence, he said.