Lodha said the collegium must not lose any more time in reiterating the name of Justice K.M. Joseph for appointment to the top court.



New Delhi: Former Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha has hit out at the present state of the Indian judiciary, calling it “disastrous to say the least”.

Lodha said the collegium must reiterate its recommendation to elevate Uttarakhand High Court chief justice K.M. Joseph to the Supreme Court immediately. He was speaking at the release of former union minister Arun Shourie’s book ‘Anita Gets Bail’. The book is a critique of the functioning of the judicial system.

“Precious time has already been lost. The executive sat on the recommendation for three months, and now the collegium must not lose more time. Once it has done that, it must also ensure the government cannot delay it a second time,” he said.

The collegium is likely to meet this week to reiterate its recommendation, binding the government to appoint Joseph as a judge of the apex court.

Lodha added that “independence of the judiciary is non-negotiable”, and that CJI Dipak Misra “must show statesmanlike qualities and take his colleagues into confidence”.

“If what is happening at the Supreme Court were to be taken by the high courts as a precedent, the day will not be far for the entire judiciary to turn into chaos,” he said.

Besides Lodha, former Delhi High Court chief justice A.P. Shah, senior advocate Fali Nariman, and senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai were present at the launch of Shourie’s book.

Shourie also spoke about the government’s decision to not appoint Joseph.

“The Gandhian response for the CJI would have been to not swear in the other judge (Justice Indu Malhotra), whose name was sent for appointment along with Joseph,” the former editor and union minister said.

Loya case

Shah was particularly critical of the court’s handling of the case seeking investigation into judge B.H. Loya’s death.

“The judgment is utterly wrong and jurisprudentially incorrect on so many counts,” he said of the Supreme Court’s decision to decline a fresh probe into the circumstances of the CBI court judge’s death.

Shah said although much of the court’s judgment talked about the misuse of public interest litigation, it is the court itself that has misused PILs.

“When the Bombay High Court was hearing the case, the apex court transferred the case to itself after some petitions were filed. Who truly has misused PILs here?” he asked.

You can read the full text of the speech here.

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