CJI DY Chandrachud at Express Adda: Deals are not cut like this (in meetings with Govt)… please trust Judges

The 50th Chief Justice of India was the chief guest at the Express Adda held in New Delhi and was in conversation with National Opinion Editor Vandita Mishra and National Legal Editor Apurva Vishwanath. He was responding to a question on the political context of photographs of the CJI praying with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 11.

“The Prime Minister visited my home for a purely private event, it was not a public event. Well, I do feel that, you know, there was absolutely nothing wrong for the simple reason that these are continuing meetings between the Judiciary and the Executive, even at a social level,” Justice Chandrachud added.

The 50th Chief Justice of India was the chief guest at the Express Adda held in New Delhi and was in conversation with National Opinion Editor Vandita Mishra and National Legal Editor Apurva Vishwanath. (Express Photo by Abhinav Saha)

When asked if, looking back, he would have liked to tweak the frame by having other judges or the Leader of the Opposition, Justice Chandrachud said that would have made it a selection committee.

“Well, I wouldn’t include the Leader of the Opposition because it is not a selection committee for appointing the Central Vigilance Commissioner or the Director of CBI,” he said in a lighter vein.

On the issue of courts not granting bail in several cases, CJI Chandrachud said that “it was a matter of grave concern” for him as CJI that the message that bail is the rule rather than the exception hasn’t trickled down to the trial courts which are reluctant to grant bail.

The CJI mentioned that in his two-year tenure, while 21,000 bail cases were filed at the apex court, 21,358 bail cases were disposed of. (Express Photo by Abhinav Saha)

“Speaking for myself, I’ve always said that I’ve granted bail from A to Z — from Arnab to Zubair. That is my philosophy,” he said.

The CJI also added that in his two-year tenure, while 21,000 bail cases were filed at the apex court, 21,358 bail cases were disposed of.

When asked to elaborate on what the CJI meant when he had earlier said that there is a “pressure on the people’s court to take on the role of the Opposition,” the CJI said that there are “interest groups, pressure groups, groups which are trying to use electronic media to sort of put pressure on the court to arrive at certain outcomes..”

“What you increasingly find is that a lot of segments or these groups say that, ‘Well, if you decide in my favour, you’re independent. If you don’t decide in my favour, well, you’re not independent” and that’s what I have an objection to,” the CJI said.

On judicial appointments, CJI Chandrachud said that the Collegium has done its part and he hopes that the government clears the pending recommendations.

“Some of those names are still pending before the government, and you’ve mentioned some of them. Well, I hope that they are cleared by the government. We have done everything that is within our power as the Supreme Court to ensure that we do our part of the Constitution process. Evaluate the names, discuss the names, and we send the names to the government,” he said.

When asked if the government’s delay in appointing judges effectively gives it a veto power, the CJI said that the collegium also exercises a veto.

“The veto, I must tell you is not a veto that is only exercised by the government…The veto is something that is exercised by the collegium as well. No appointment can go through unless we clear the appointment”. Speaking on how state governments play a role in which names are sent to the collegium to consider for judge appointments, he said, “Where we find that a particular candidate is not worthy of appointment and we veto that, the Government of India can’t appoint that candidate…We ensure that people who we do not believe to be worthy of appointment should not be appointed as judges”.

On the track record of the collegium he headed, CJI Chandrachud said that while 18 judges of the Supreme Court that were recommended had been appointed; 40 out of 42 Chief Justices recommended had been appointed; 137 out of 164 recommendations for appointment of HC judges were cleared while 27 are pending with the government.