The Judiciary acts as an arm of government and not as an opposition to the Legislature or the Executive but it has to be bold enough to set and declare the constitutional limits of the Legislature and the Executive. The Judiciary keeps watch and ward over the Constitution, rigid or flexible, written or unwritten. Judiciary stands between the State and the individual to supervise a regime of the Rule of Law and not the rule of men. Judiciary exists to ensure and act as a custodian and bastion of liberty and stands for the dignity of the individual –the guardian of the Constitution as it is rightfully described as the citadel of Justice.

Independence of judiciary has more than one aspect and some of them are as follows;

a)  Lack of interference in the administration of justice;

b)  Absence of interference in causes or matters before the Courts;

c)   Provision of adequate resources to the courts;

d)  The personal integrity of the Judge;

e)  The Executive should not be allowed into a situation which enables or offers the Executive the temptation to exert pressure on the Judiciary;

f)   Appointing process in judiciary must ensure to select men and women

of the requisite caliber and integrity to the Bench;

g)  Promotion Process is to ensure that those who make the grade are not

frustrated by arguments of seniority –the progressive Judges should not be held back by those who grow stale on the Job;

h) Discipline Process needs to allow those who do not makethe grade to honourably make way for those who are prepared to get on. The process should weed out the bad and thus leave the character of the Judiciary as a whole unblemished; The process if wisely used would avoid the disgrace that attaches to removal;

i)  Removal Process in judiciary should be the last resort –but must be resorted to on account f judicial impropriety or misconduct.

Competence and integrity of a judge can be measured through his/her performance on the bench. Public satisfaction with performance and integrity of judiciary is extremely important for the judiciary itself.

Power of judiciary viz a viz the government requires proper management. None of the three pillars of democracy, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary should be provided with unbridled powers. Our system of government is a democracy. Judicial independence is an essential pre requisite for a judicial system in a democratic society however not without judicial accountability. Ideally there should be an inbuilt accountability mechanism in the judicial system so that its independence and integrity is not comprised.