Supreme Court judge Justice J. Chelameswar has opened up about the reasons why he and three other senior judges of the apex court decided to hold an unprecedented press conference six months ago, agreeing that they wanted to highlight government's influence on how politically sensitive cases were being allocated to select benches, and voicing distress over how senior judges were being deliberately kept out of benches hearing important matters.
Chelameswar, who retired on Friday, replied in affirmative when asked if the charge that politically sensitive cases were being allocated to selected benches implied that there were external forces influencing the judiciary. “If that is what you imply, then yes, that was the implication. There was something definitely questionable,” he said in an interview with THE WEEK.
Asked if the government was influencing the court's functioning, Chelameswar indicated that was the case, answering, “Why is that the government never opened its mouth? They said it is an internal problem of the judiciary.”
People in power, he said, would always like to have a friendly judiciary. “It is not possible for them to tolerate a judiciary that is not sympathetic to their line of thinking,” Chelameswar said.
He said the judges' decision to hold the press conference had to do with problems with the manner in which CJI Dipak Misra was functioning. He spoke about how he and the three other senior judges from the Supreme Court collegium were being deliberately kept away from benches hearing important matters.
“...senior judges were deliberately kept out of the benches hearing important matters... How is it that for the last one year, all four of us were kept away from major issues?” he asked.
The judge defended the press conference held at his official residence in Delhi. He argued that contrary to the criticism that it had left the judiciary in a vulnerable position, it may actually contribute to strengthening of the judicial system.
Amidst speculation over whether Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who is next in line for being appointed as the CJI, would be superseded on account of his participation in the controversial press conference, Chelameswar said he was not expecting that kind of a situation. “I have no such fears,” he said.
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Critical of the government for the delay in clearing recommendations for appointment of judges to the high courts and the Supreme Court, Chelameswar said that when he raised the issue of a particular judge from Karnataka, whose appointment was stalled, 'highly placed sources of the law ministry' fed material to the press about him and the judge whose case he had taken up.
Chelameswar, who acquired the image of a rebel judge for questioning the working of the judicial system and his run-ins with the present CJI as well as his predecessors over the alleged lack of transparency in the manner in which judges were being chosen for the higher judiciary by the Supreme Court collegium, said he is looking forward to a peaceful post-retirement life. “To live peacefully. And to try and make some money honestly,” he said, when asked about his plans after retirement.
The judge, who plans to settle down in his ancestral village in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, said there is no possibility of him joining electoral politics. He had earlier declared that he will not take up any government assignment after he retires. “Electoral politics is ruled out. I am not going to contest any election, neither assembly nor Parliament.”
The full interview with Justice Chelameswar will be published in the next edition of THE WEEK.