Judicial Activism

The oldest remarks of active judiciary, in India, can be traced back to 1893, when Justice Mehmood of the Allahabad High Court delivered a dissenting judgment which sowed the seed of judicial activism in India. It was a case of an under trial who could not afford to engage a lawyer. So the question was whether the court could decide his case by merely looking at his papers. Mehmood held that the pre-condition of the case being 'heard', as opposed to merely being read, would be fulfilled only when somebody speaks. So he gave the widest possible interpretation of the relevant law and laid the foundation stone of the judicial activism in India. Sikri observes that "the judge as an interpreter of the community, of its sense of law and order must supply omissions, correct uncertainties and harmonise results with justice through a free decision. Such new dimension of judicial process is labeled as Judicial Activism". "It is he who infuses life and blood into the dry skeleton provided by the Legislature and creates a living organism appropriate and adequate to meet the needs of the society.