'Functional Judiciary Requires...': Ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi Draws Clear Line Between 'Judicial Activism' & 'Judicial Overreach'

Underscoring that it is now high time for the judicial system to start adapting to the changing times as per the global norms, former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Friday said that the courts must be able to differentiate between ‘judicial activism’ and judicial overreach.’ He added that the judiciary’s prime responsibility is to understand and choose when to act as a catalytic agent for change and when to uphold the status quo. It is within this context that the distinction between ‘Judicial activism’ and ‘Judicial overreach’ becomes profoundly significant,” PTI quoted Justice Gogoi as saying. Drawing the clear distinction, Gogoi also added that ‘adventurous’ judicial activism carries with it the risk that decisions, though well-intentioned, sometimes lead to unintended consequences, muddying the waters of legal certainty. ‘PIL Is A Double-edged Sword’: Ranjan Gogoi Talking about the practice of Public Interest Litigation, Gogoi said that the advent of PILs has marked a revolutionary shift in the legal Paradigm “transforming the judiciary from a passive arbiter of disputes into an active force for social change and at times even bringing in debatable changes in political life and values.” The former CJI, however, cautioned that the PIL is also like a double-edged sword.