Question

Difficulty: MediumJudicial Independence and the Enforcement of the Rule of Law

In order to prevent the executive branch from exercising undue control over the judiciary through budgetary manipulation, which constitutional mechanism is specifically established to protect judicial financial autonomy?

  1. Charging judicial salaries and allowances directly on the Consolidated Revenue FundAnswer
  2. B
    Extending executive immunity from prosecution to judicial officers while in office
  3. C
    Granting the executive arm the power to review and approve court budgetary allocations annually
  4. D
    Empowering the legislature to remove judges by a simple majority vote during parliamentary debates

Answer

Charging judicial salaries and allowances directly on the Consolidated Revenue Fund protects judicial independence by ensuring financial autonomy from executive interference.
Charging judicial salaries directly on the Consolidated Revenue Fund ensures that funds for judicial operations and remuneration are drawn automatically without annual executive approval or political negotiation, safeguarding judges from financial coercion.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the core threat to judicial independence described in the question.
The threat is executive control or intimidation through financial and budgetary manipulation.
Judges who rely on executive discretion for their salaries may compromise impartiality.
2
Evaluate constitutional safeguards designed to maintain judicial independence.
Charging salaries on the Consolidated Revenue Fund ensures automatic payment as a non-votable expenditure.
This prevents the executive branch from slashing or delaying judicial funds during political disagreements.

Key Concept

Financial Autonomy of the Judiciary via the Consolidated Revenue Fund
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