Page 2 - article

FOCUS ARTICLE

admitted a petition seeking a probe
into the death of B H Loya who, as a
special judge, was hearing the “fake
encounter killing” case. As if the
The Rift within the presser by the four judges was not
enough, they also made public a seven-
page letter to the CJI.
Supreme Court The letter, first sent to the CJI a
couple of months ago, said “It is with
great anguish and concern that we have
What is more worrying is that it is the CJI and the four judges who make up thought it proper to address this letter
the Supreme Court collegium that selects judges for the higher judiciary to you so as to highlight certain judicial
—By Pallab Bhattacharya orders passed by this court which has
adversely affected the overall
functioning of the justice delivering
The unprecedented public show of rift in a medical scam was mentioned for
system and the independence of the
within India’s highest judiciary—the urgent hearing before a bench headed
high courts besides impacting the
hallowed Supreme Court—following by Justice Chelameshwar in December
administrative functioning of the office
the questioning by four senior judges last year. In November last year, the
of the apex court against the country’s CJI had in an order declared that the of the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India.”
chief justice Dipak Misra over The letter said that there have been
instances where cases having “far
allotment of cases and certain judicial
orders has plunged the jurists and In Brief reaching consequences for the nation”
politics of the world’s largest  The public show of rift within and the institution have been assigned
democracy into a never-before-seen India’s highest judiciary was by the chief justices of this court
turmoil. “selectively to the benches ‘of their
THE UPS AND DOWNS IN THE unprecedented. preference’ without any rationale
JUDICIARY  This was in form of the basis” for such assignment. “This must
questioning by four senior be guarded against at all costs.”
The reason is simple. Over decades,
judges of the apex court THE LONG-TERM IMPACT
the Supreme Court has often set the
agenda on matters of public policy and against the CJI. The media conference by the four
orders measures taken in the public  This episode has plunged the judges and their making public the
interest. The apex court has often jurists and politics of the letter underlined one thing clearly: the
simmering differences between the
stepped in to set right things which the world’s largest democracy
executive should have ideally done. into a never-before-seen country’s top judge and some senior
This, as a result, has also raised turmoil. judges in the apex court in recent
concerns, particularly from politician, months.The four judges accused
 The political slugfest over the Justice Misra of not taking any
over what was termed as “judicial rift in the apex judiciary has
activism.” “remedial measures” on some of the
already begun. issues which affected the functioning
While differences between a
 The criticism by the four of the apex court that they had raised.
government of the day and the highest
judges indicated that not The criticism by the four judges of
judiciary is nothing new, especially
over appointment of judges to the all is well in the SC Justice Misra was very sharp and
higher courts, this was the first time administration. indicated that not all is well in the
that such public spectacle of rift within Supreme Court administration. What
is more worrying is that it is the CJI
the apex court was seen. The near-unity
and the four judges who make up the
seen in the apex court in the standoff chief justice “is the master of the roster”
Supreme Court collegium that selects
with the government over appointment having exclusive power to decide which
judges for the higher judiciary. The main
of judges to higher courts clearly lies case will go to which judge.
issue now is how to resolve the
in disarray today. The standoff between However, the immediate trigger for
the four judges Justice Ranjan Gogoi, the stunning press conference by the standoff within the country’s top
judiciary? The BJP-led government at
Justice Madan Bhimrao Lokur and four senior-most judges was Justice
the Centre made it clear it is not going
Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Misra’s turning down a plea for shifting
to intervene and said the judiciary will
Misra was the culmination of simmering a politically-sensitive case relating to
resolve the issue itself. “Our judiciary
differences for quite some time. the “fake (police) encounter” killing of
is reputed all over the world,
The first major point of rift came gangster Sheikh Sohrabuddin in
out in public when a public interest Gujarat to a bench of his choice. On
litigation alleging judges’ involvement January 11, the CJI-led bench had (Contd on page 27)
March 2018 Competition Wizard 25