Editorial
Judicial review of TIB findings
Opinion surveys may be inexact science, but an indispensable feedback mechanism
We have been carefully following the Supreme Court review of the recent TIB findings relating to corruption in the judiciary. The findings have aroused considerable comment not only in legal quarters but across the board as well. There is, of course, little question that the judiciary, comprising leading legal lights of the country, is the ultimate repository of interpretative authority for the welfare of the society.
That said, though, it is our considered belief that public opinion surveys, the issue which has propelled the SC into its present course of action, happen to be a significant litmus test of where the country stands on given issues at given points of time. Opinion polls are a part of democracy and have been a method of gauging public opinion for decades on contemporary issues in democratic societies. These polls have been perfected over decades. Even though they may not be an exact science, they are nevertheless indispensable in a constant, relentless monitoring of government performance in the five years that elapse between general elections. If opinion polls are not there, how will citizens express themselves on their perception of governance in the long interregnum and how will policy makers and institutional authorities are to assess public opinion on how they are doing?
It is an accepted fact that opinion surveys are based on a sampling of between 1200 and 3000 persons across the spectrum on an issue or a range of issues. It is a mathematically established process followed by pollsters all over the world. TIB in the present case surveyed 6000 households and asked them whether they received any service from the judiciary and what experience they have had. Thus, it is an experience-based assessment of public response. Thus respondents' perception of corruption is in no way a wholesale reflection of the judiciary; far from it, it amounted to drawing attention to some problems.
In a situation where the choice is between a modicum of public feedback on the issues and a total absence of it, it is the former option that institutions can only benefit from adopting. A survey may have its lacunae. Even so, it is indispensable to a promotion and guarantee of good, effective and efficacious governance in Bangladesh.
The judiciary, being emblematic of wisdom in society, need not see all matters in purely legalistic terms. In most democracies, particularly in the West, opinion polls are a yardstick on which governments base their day-to-day functions. In the absence of opinion surveys, the ultimate losers are those who make policy. For our judiciary itself, it is important that it keep itself abreast of how people feel about its work. And it can do that if and only if it gives space for a regular expression of public sentiments through opinion polls.
We suggest that as it reviews the findings of the TIB, the Supreme Court consider the methodologies followed by opinion pollsters around the world and in this let experts in the field be consulted to complement the process.
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