Page 3 - Tehelka Issue 8&9

Editor’s Note

Higher Judiciary: No winners

but office of CJI is the loser

the recent rift between the ex- removal motion is new low for the body politic because
ecutive and the judiciary over ju- such a measure requires consensus and thinking. The
dicial appointments is not a new danger of such a cavalier precedent is that political
development but Centre dragging parties could make a habit of using the impeachment
its feet on the elevation of Ut - motion to intimidate judiciary. This would weaken the
tarkhand Chief Justice C J Joseph to great institution. There are no winners in this but the
the Supreme Court has the potential biggest loser is the highest court of justice. In fact some
to open a Pandora’s box. Law Minister of most eminent jurists have also criticised the move.
Ravi Shankar Prasad’s explanation about The ongoing internal tussle in the Supreme Court
disapproval on the grounds that Justice Joseph is too has also done an irreparable damage to the office of
junior in the all-India list of judges and that there is an the apex court leaving common people baffled. Chinks
imbalance in the regional representation in the Su- in the higher judiciary were visible after the first-ever
preme Court, clearly means scrutiny from body politi- press conference by the top four judges of the Supreme
cal into the affairs of the apex court. Court in which they levelled allegations against the CJI.
This comes almost immediately after the motion of Not surprisingly, the polity was bound to exploit the
impeachment of the Chief Justice of India that had been opportunity to gain brownie points. But at what cost?
rejected by the vice-president of India. The vice-presi- When the lordships failed to arrest the slide in recti-
dent has the powers to reject the impeachment notice tude, the matter entered into the political domain. By
and he has rightly chosen the grounds that the charges far impeachment of a Judge has never happened in our
did not constitute misconduct or incapacity. Section country but because the controversy involves the CJI, it
3 of the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 that deals with the does not bode well for the highest office of judiciary. Im-
procedure for the investigation and proof of the mis- peachment is too serious to be used on grounds of disa-
behavior or incapacity of a Judge of the Supreme Court greement. Indian judiciary has time and again shown
or of a High Court states that the presiding officer may itself resilient for self-correction and it will come out
admit or refuse to admit the motion after holding con- unscathed from this uncalled move too..
sultations with such persons as he thinks fit, and con-
sidering the material before him. Also, the CJI is free to
allocate cases as “master of the roster” and there being
no “proven misconduct” or “incapacity”, there is no
constitutional basis for the notice to be admitted. The (charanjit ahuja)

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Volume 15, Issue no. 8&9, 16 Apr Il-15 mAy 2018, released on 1 mAy, number of pages including cover 68
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Add.indd 13 02/05/18 4:42 PM 3 Editor'sNote.indd 3 02/05/18 5:18 PM