On Wednesday, Ex CJI & Rajya Sabha MP Ranjan Gogoi said that the Supreme Court Collegium didn't face any Govt. interference during his tenure as the Chief Justice of India when appointing Judges to HCts & the Top Court.
EX CJI was speaking at a webinar organized by Confederation of Alumni for National Law Universities on the topic “Ensuring an independent judiciary under our Constitution”.
“14 names were recommended for appointment (as judges) to Supreme Court during my tenure. They were accepted & appointments made on time. There was never any difficulty. All recommendations with chief justices of high courts also were processed in time. (There was) no executive interference”, Mr Gogoi said in his keynote address.
Former CJI also said that the Collegium system is an excellent method for appointing Judges to the HCs & the SC & it also helps keep in check executive interference when it comes to judicial appointments.
He said that “My experience with the collegium is that it is a sure way of keeping the executive out of the appointment process. The executive has got an equal role though the judicial voice is the ultimate voice".
Mr Gogoi was also of the view that protection & immunity afforded to Judges should be strengthened so that they can perform their duties fearlessly. The vulnerability attached to the office of a judge dissuades young lawyers from taking up offers to become judge, he said.
Mr Ranjan Gogoi said that “The scheme for protection of judge needs to be strengthened. Young lawyers are not keen to be judges. The office of the judge of a high court has been made so vulnerable that a lawyer is happy to continue as a lawyer. Don’t forget the sacrifice a lawyer makes to become a judge".
He was also critical of a “group” of activists & media who, he alleged, have set benchmarks for judges to be considered independent. Judges are attacked if they do not confirm to the standards set by them & such tendencies will sound the death knell for an independent judiciary, he said.
He added that “Activists, web portals, some mainstream media (organizations), this is one group that has laid down ‘identification marks’ for who is an ‘independent judge’. A judge, (according to them), should be anti-authoritarian, eloquent on issues like rich-poor divide, oppression of marginalized & suppression of fundamental rights. If judges don’t conform to these expectations, they are attacked. This is destructive of the independence of the judiciary".
Ex CJI Gogoi created quite a furore when he accepted Rajya Sabha nomination a mere four months into his retirement from the Apex Court.
On the issue of post-retirement jobs, Gogoi in response to a question from the audience pointed out that there are judges who take to arbitrations after retirement while another group of judges talk about judicial independence & freedom of speech after demitting office.
“You talk about post-retirement engagements as compromising judicial independence. What about those other two categories.”
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