Justice Kailash Gambhir, retired Judge of the Delhi High Court, has written to President Ram Nath Kovind objecting to the Collegium’s recommendations of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari for elevation to the Supreme Court.

Retired judge of Delhi High Court Justice Kailash Gambhir has written to President Ram Nath Kovind, objecting to the decision of collegium which recommended elevation of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari to the Supreme Court pic.twitter.com/zblIFuy2rZ — ANI (@ANI) January 16, 2019

The Collegium’s recommendations have superseded 32 judges and Justice Gambhir has deemed it outrageous and appalling. He stated, “This is appalling and outrageous that such an earth-shattering decision has been taken to supersede as many as 32 judges which include many Chief Justices, casting aspersions on their intellect, merit and integrity.”

The letter further asserted that democracy will not survive without a ‘free Judiciary’. It states, “I humbly urge your Excellency to kindly ponder over as the head of largest democracy in the world with a robust judiciary and having remained a part of the legal fraternity, and see yourself that the way the present collegium of five eminent senior judges have superseded almost 32 judges, how will the democracy and independence of judiciary in the country survive.

Justice Gambhir further states that Justice Maheshwari was superseded just a month and a half back but suddenly has become deserving. He wrote, “It cannot be forgotten that it is just one-and-a-half month back the then collegium members of the Supreme Court had superseded Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and now out of the blue, he becomes more deserving and suitable within such a short gap.”

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Justice Gambhir also pleaded with the President to prevent “another black day” and “another historical blunder” from being committed to preserve the credibility and independence of the Judiciary.