NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi got a glittering certificate on Friday from Chief Justice of India HL Dattu who described him as “a good leader, a good human being and a man with foresight”.

The CJI , who has met the PM four times so far, shared his impression of the man during a rare interaction with journalists in which he described the judiciary’s relations with the government as excellent.

The testimonial is significant, considering that the Supreme Court’s engagement with complaints concerning the 2002 riots in Gujarat under Modi’s chief ministership had kept him on tenterhooks. The apex court had set up a Special Investigation Team to “look into” the allegation of Jakia Jaffri, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jaffri who was killed in the riots, that Modi and many other politicians, bureaucrats and policemen abdicated their constitutional duties during the riots. When the SIT gave a clean chit to Modi, the SC asked the trial court to look into the findings of the investigation team.

The CJI, who is four months into the top post, also said the relationship between the judiciary and the government had been excellent during his tenure. “The government has not said no to any of the proposals given by me. Till date, their response to the demands of judiciary has been very good. All my demands for the judiciary have been taken care of,” Justice Dattu said.

The comments are important because of the perception that divergence has arisen between the judiciary and the Modi government because of its move to set up a National Judicial Appointments Commission to end the SC’s monopoly over appointment of judges and refusal to endorse the recommendation for appointment of Gopal Subramanian as a judge of the apex court.

Justice Dattu believes in what former CJI Y K Sabharwal had said after delivering the judgment in 2006 quashing presidential rule in Bihar. Speaking against the backdrop of executive’s resentment, Justice Sabharwal had said, “A little bit of tension between the judiciary and the executive is good for the system.”

Speaking to journalists, Justice Dattu stressed that the judiciary and the executive acted in different spheres of governance, but also said that coordination on the administrative side, especially in meeting the demands of the judiciary in infrastructure and creation of more posts to deal with pendency, would augur well for citizens.

Asked for his views on NJAC, Justice Dattu declined to give any, but denied that judiciary was annoyed because of creation of the new mechanism for appointment of judges to the SC and high courts. “Judiciary is not upset with NJAC. The legislature has done its job and we will do ours,” he said.

On the filling of vacancies of judges in the SC and HCs, the CJI said the collegium would function till the NJAC came into force after the government notified it and framed the rules.

Justice Dattu, who in his short tenure has taken a number of measures to improve the functioning of the court and its working environs, feels too much time of the court is being taken in deciding mundane appeals where there was a concurrent finding by three courts. He said he would attempt a gradual introduction of the procedure followed by the US Supreme Court where only 10% of cases are taken up for open hearing while the rest are rejected in chamber hearing.

The CJI has also decided to set up a creche in the Supreme Court for staff and advocates. “There are a lot of young mothers who come to the Supreme Court. When they leave their young children back home, they remain concerned. We must address their concern,” he said. He is also setting up a healthcare unit for lawyers and litigants in the SC premises.

He has also decided to do away with the routine of printing the ‘daily cause list’ -- a catalogue running into over 100 pages of cases posted for hearing before more than a dozen benches. “This was consuming a huge amount of paper. Stoppage of printing the cause list from February 1 will mean saving 10 big trees every day,” he said.

On the increasing terror threat to various institutions, the CJI said the situation in the country had improved a lot after the 26/11 terror strike in Mumbai. “As for the Supreme Court, we are taking no chances. To provide maximum security to lawyers, litigants and staff is my priority,” he said.

