Page 27 - Tehelka-May18

OpiniOn legal

SC collegium controversy • Judging the judge Four top judges had made
statements against the Chief Justice Of India,
Deepak Misra, in January this year
refuses to fizzle out

unnecessary and uncalled for. The
Though the judiciary, one of the three pillars of democracy and latest reports, thankfully, indicate that
the party has let the issue die down and
Spotlight guardian of the constitution, had witnessed some challenges in past, may not pursue it.
Members of the Constituent As-
the deep crisis in which it has landed itself now has no parallels
Vipin pubby sembly, who drafted the constitution,
deliberately set up a tough procedure
e have a situation had not forgotten the slight it received for an impeachment. For any impeach-
now in which finger at the hands of Justice Joseph. ment to take place, a three-fourths
of suspicion is being A spokesman of the BJP, pooh- majority of Parliamentarians must
Former resident editor pointed out against poohing this as the cause of objecting to vote in favour of the motion and there
of the Indian express, the Chief Justice Justice Joseph’s appointment, asserted should be proven evidence of misbe-
Vipin Pubby is a senior W of India himself, that Justice Joseph’s judgment was chal- haviour or corruption against the judge
journalist based in where his four senior-most brother lenged in the Supreme Court where the in question. He is also given the right to
Chandigarh. He can judges held a press conference to speak then Judge J S Khehar too had endorsed present his case in Parliament. No won-
be contacted at out against his way of functioning and the judgment of Justice Joseph and still der no judge has ever been impeached
vipinpubby@gmail. where charges of corruption have been he was elevated to the position of the since the independence.
com. The views levelled against a few sitting and retired Chief Justice of India. The argument, The current CJI Dipak Misra is set
expressed are personal high court judges. however, has few takers as not elevating to retire after a few months and an
And even as there appears to be an Khehar could have led to several other the Supreme Court. He further sought to impeach the Chief Justice of India, impeachment motion against him
internal rift within the higher judici- questions and controversies. to make his point that “there is no which was thankfully rejected by Rajya can’t even reach the preliminary stage.
ary, it is also at daggers drawn with One of the reasons given by the un- representation of Scheduled Castes/ Sabha chairman, has done much harm In any case, he is not escalating the
the government of the day. In what is ion law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Scheduled Tribes communities in the to the institution. The Congress knew issue. Whatever the charges against
an unprecedented development, the which has the approval of the Hon’ble Supreme Court since long.” well that impeachment is a compli- him, he has not spoken against his
government has returned the proposal President and the Hon’ble Prime Again what the law minister forgot cated process and it does not have the brother judges and has not come out
of the collegium to appoint Justice K M Minister, was that Justice Joseph ranked was that appointments to the high strength to win the motion. Several in the public like them. He has, in fact,
Joseph, Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand 42nd in seniority among all high court court have to be made purely on merit of its own stalwarts including former endorsed their proposal to resend the
High Court, as a Supreme Court judge. judges in the country. He, however, and decided by the five senior-most prime minister Manmohan Singh name of Justice Joseph for elevation.
The government not only returned conveniently forgot that Justice Joseph judges of the Supreme Court includ- and at least two former Union law The situation has perplexed the
the recommendation, it sought to was way ahead of other high court chief ing the Chief Justice of India. Besides, ministers from the party disassociated people and particularly the three crore
underline its opposition to his appoint- justices in the matter of seniority. In fact, there are seven other vacancies and themselves with the move to impeach litigants whose cases have been pend-
ment by accepting the recommendation the next Chief Justice of any high court the names of judges to be elevated are the CJI. It even moved the Supreme ing in the carious courts, particularly
for appointment of a senior lady Advo- in the country has lesser experience yet to be recommended. The issue has Court itself against the rejection of its in subordinate judiciary, since long.
cate as judge of the Supreme Court. It as Chief Justice by about two years as not yet been resolved and all those con- motion. The party’s stand was quite The current imbroglio has certainly
had perhaps never happened in the past compared to Justice Joseph. cerned for the hard-earned democracy dented the image of the judiciary
that the government had accepted only The law minister, in his communica- in the country would hope and pray which is the last hope for the common
a part of the proposals from Supreme tion to the CJI, also mentioned that the that the crisis is resolved at the earliest. man. It would be in the interest of all
Court collegium. High Court of Kerala, to which Justice Unfortunately, the BJP government The BJP government concerned, and most importantly of
The grounds on which it did are also Joseph belongs, has “adequate represen- at the Centre appears to have arraigned the democracy, that interference in
significant. The common belief, and very tation in the Supreme Court”. By this, he itself against the SC’s stand and is sit- at the Centre each other’s domain should be strictly
obvious to everyone concerned, was meant that there was already another ting tight over more than 60 vacancies appears to have avoided by the constitutional institu-
that Justice Joseph had ruled against the judge from the Kerala High Court while of high court judges. tions of democracy.
imposition of President’s rule in Uttara- several states remained unrepresented Former Chief Justice of India Justice arraigned itself While it is given that there would be
khand in 2016 leading to restoration of in the apex court. This too was a falla- R S Thakur broke down in public over against the SC’s pulls and pressures from the three pil-
the Congress government in the state. cious argument as it is not for the Centre the government not clearing so many lars of democracy with each trying to
The decision came on the eve of the As- to decide on representation to different appointments which had led to piling stand and is sitting have a greater say, the maturity of the
sembly elections in that state and was a regions and such appointments have to up of about a crore cases in higher nation would be reflected in the three
setback for the BJP at the Centre as well be done purely on merit. Besides, there judiciary. tight over more than coming together to resolve issues in a
as the State. Although in the subsequent are several high courts such as Delhi Similarly, the Congress has not 60 vacancies of high more objective and sensible manner.
Assembly elections, BJP won with a and Mumbai which are much smaller covered itself with glory while dealing
thumping majority but apparently it but have contributed more judges to with the judiciary. Its Ill-advised move court judges letters@tehelka.com

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