Anand Ranganathan Delivers Scathing Critique of India's Judicial System
In a powerful and unflinching commentary, scientist and commentator Anand Ranganathan has declared India's entire judicial system to be fundamentally "broke" following a recent Supreme Court decision. His critique centers on two major issues: the court's controversial ban on an NCERT textbook chapter and the staggering backlog of cases plaguing the nation's courts.
The Supreme Court's NCERT Textbook Ban
The immediate catalyst for Ranganathan's remarks was the Supreme Court's order to remove a chapter from an NCERT political science textbook. This chapter, which discussed judicial corruption and accountability, was deemed inappropriate by the court. Ranganathan interprets this move not as a standard judicial review, but as a direct suppression of critical discourse about the judiciary itself.
He argues that banning educational material that examines the institution's flaws is symptomatic of a deeper rot. "When the highest court acts to shield itself from scrutiny in educational curricula, it signals a profound failure of transparency and self-correction," his analysis suggests, framing the ban as an attempt to control the narrative around judicial integrity.
A System Crippled by Backlog and Inaction
Ranganathan's indictment extends far beyond this single event. He supports his "broke system" claim with a shocking statistic: based on current disposal rates, it would take an estimated 323 years to clear India's existing backlog of court cases. This figure, often cited in judicial reform discussions, underscores a crisis of access to justice for millions of citizens.
His critique presents a two-fold failure:
- Judicial Inefficiency: The system is overwhelmed, under-resourced, and unable to deliver timely justice, eroding public trust.
- Parliamentary Paralysis: Ranganathan saves some of his harshest criticism for the legislature, which he describes as "too spineless to fix it." He asserts that despite the evident crisis, successive parliaments have lacked the political will to enact the deep structural reforms needed to modernize and expand the judiciary.
The Verdict: A Call for Systemic Overhaul
Anand Ranganathan's commentary weaves these threads into a damning verdict. The NCERT ban is not an isolated incident but a symbol of a judiciary unwilling to confront its public image issues, while the backlog is the tangible result of systemic neglect. Together, they paint a picture of an institution that is, in his view, broken beyond its current capacity for self-repair.
His argument concludes that tinkering at the edges is insufficient. What is required, he implies, is a courageous parliamentary initiative—currently absent—to fundamentally restructure appointments, processes, and accountability within the Indian judicial system to address both its efficiency deficit and its credibility crisis.
