Improved Dialogue Between CJI & Centre May Have Fast Tracked Judicial Appointments, Says Justice Kurian Joseph

Speaking at a public event at New Delhi on December 7 organised by The LeafLet , former Supreme Court judge Justice Kurian Joseph said that improved dialogue between the Chief Justice of India and Centre could have fast tracked judicial appointments.On asked why certain recent recommendations of the Supreme Court collegium (of which Justice Joseph is a member) have been cleared by the Centre with “undue hurry”, Justice Joseph replied :“As a system, and it is not a perfect system, when a name is recommended, the decision is taken with the help of available inputs, and the government has only two options- if they have any adverse inputs against a candidate, they have to send it back, or they have to clear the name. They can’t sit on it. In fact, I had written a letter to the CJI that he should take appropriate action (in the face of the government acting on the recommendations belatedly and holding up appointments, most conspicuously in Justice K. M. Joseph’s instance). May be on account of the improved dialogue between the head of the executive and the head of the judiciary, things have been fast tracked. Even in the High Courts, appointments have been fast tracked. This maybe because now there is no communication gap”, the former judge explained.A6k&feature=youtu.beHe advanced that he does not think that these names are more amenable to the government- “the recommendation of the Collegium is not based on acceptability to the government but on the independent assessment of the requirement by the Collegium. Three out of the four names recently recommended are from the major High Courts of the country which are not represented in the Supreme Court at all...”When quizzed about why one of the judges recently sworn in, who hails from the Patna High Court, called the PM a “hero” and a “great man”, Justice Joseph replied that that was the judge’s personal perception.Justice Joseph was also in favour of “regular dialogue” with the Executive on matters of infrastructure and delays in appointments, which continue to be in the hands of the government. “As the Chief Justice of a High Court, I have done this”, he added.On the press conference of January 12, Justice Joseph was of the view that the “chapter should now be closed” instead of being “resurrected”, making way for the “more burning issues”- “Much has been debated and discussed. I don’t think the Indian polity has not understood why we had come out. I had made a promise that upon my retirement, I shall explain in public why I went, and I kept my promise. Why speak of these issues which have been masticated to the maximum extent?”“I went out on my conviction. There was a perception that the judiciary, and not particularly the Supreme Court and not particularly the captain, was not functioning independently. And this perception was not just our own but also of some other judges. A similar view was expressed by the media too.We went and told the Chief Justice that it should change. Since there were no signs of change, we put it in writing. Driven against wall, seeing no result, we thought of telling the nation and discharge our debt to the nation...the history must not accuse us of not telling the civil society...like when Thomas (Justice Joseph's grandson) becomes an adult, he should not ask me what I did (to remedy the situation).As to why no further action was taken in this behalf, the judge replied, “you should discern that there is nothing more left to do. In court, when we say that the board is discharged, the Lawyers go home. We discharged our debt to the nation, It is now for the nation to take it forward...”On Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that if a retired Supreme Court judge attaches a motive to a former CJI’s actions, he must place the evidentiary material in public domain, and if the needful is not done, it would be deemed that no material exists.Stating that he has not seen the statement, Justice Joseph asserted, "All perceptions do not need to be based on some material". Further, “the material is not an anecdote. One such instance which was seen and discussed in public was the selective allocation of cases among benches...those who have the material should present it before the public”.On whether a different composition of the five-judge benches that, over the past year, heard several matters of substantial constitutional, political and public importance would have secured different outcomes“That is a hypothetical question...It all depends on what decision a judge would have taken based on the arguments addressed before him and after considering the constitutional position of the issue...That would all depend on what call the judge would have taken based on the evidence and the materials and the arguments. Unless the judge sees it, I can’t say”, replied the former judge.On Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi’s recent dinner with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said :“Whenever a new Chief Justice comes, it is the convention that the President and...

Improved Dialogue Between CJI & Centre May Have Fast Tracked Judicial Appointments, Says Justice Kurian Joseph

Mehal Jain

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