A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud’s residence for Ganpati puja, retired judges and eminent lawyers raised a number of questions, including whether the visit should have been made public. Meanwhile, Opposition parties questioned the propriety of the visit even as the ruling BJP hailed it as a reflection of a healthy democracy and said there was nothing wrong with showing “civility” and “cordiality”. The principal Opposition party, Congress, did not comment. The Shiv Sena (UBT) said the CJI should recuse himself from the case on the Shiv Sena’s split. Former Chief Justice of India R M Lodha told The Indian Express that there is a constitutional separation of power and “normally, a certain distance is to be maintained” between the judiciary and the executive. “By such a meeting, public perception of the judiciary gets impacted but judicial decision-making in a way is not impacted. Judge will do what he wants to do independently,” he said Thursday. “This is the first time in my memory that the Prime Minister has visited a Chief Justice of India’s official residence.” In a press conference Thursday, Rajya Sabha MP and Supreme Court Bar Association President Kapil Sibal, speaking in his “individual capacity”, said he was “taken aback” by the video clip of Prime Minister Modi visiting CJI’s Chandrachud’s residence. “I am sure that maybe the CJI may not have known that this was being publicised, that is sad. The second thing is that the prime minister of India should never have shown his interest to go to such a private event because the prime minister and those he must have consulted should and must have told him that this may send a wrong signal,” Sibal said. Highlighting that there are going to be Assembly elections in Maharashtra soon, he said “this is not an opportune time for the Prime Minister to have made a public spectacle of a private ceremony”. Retired Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court Govind Mathur told The Indian Express that making the visit “public” was “improper”. “In my opinion, it was not proper to make the visit public. I don’t know who invited whom, but I can say such visits may impact the image of the judiciary in the eyes of the public,” said the retired judge, who served as the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court from November 2018 to April 2021. He added: “I don’t think the visit will influence the CJI’s future judgments but it will definitely impact his image among the people…. It may give the wrong message.” Former Delhi High Court judge Justice (retd) Rekha Sharma said: “The visit should have been avoided under all circumstances… Cases involving the government and, lately, cases involving violations of human rights are coming before the Supreme Court. In this kind of a scenario, a social interaction between the Chief Justice of India and the Prime Minister raises apprehension in the minds of victims and litigants”. But former Madras HC judge Justice (retd) K Chandru said “no one should make an issue” out of this. “It is not wrong for the CJI, being head of the judiciary, to have Ganesh pooja in his house and also invite the head of the executive wing… Maybe they should not have gone public with that. But to denigrate the CJI’s integrity with that event is childish and immature.” Meanwhile on Thursday, political parties exchanged barbs on the issue. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut Thursday questioned if the Uddhav Sena would get justice under the CJI in the Sena versus Sena case pending before the Supreme Court. Sena leader from the Eknath Shinde camp, Milind Deora, termed this “reckless” commentary “unfortunate”. RJD MP Manoj Jha said that the independence of every institution should not just be theoretical, and should be implemented as well. “The Ganpati puja is very personal. You are going there with a camera. The message can be discomforting…. If they have released this picture in public despite Constitutional interpretation, then what do I say,” said Jha. Reacting to a post criticising the visit, BJP National General Secretary (Organisation) B L Santhosh said “though left liberals have started crying”, “it was not socialising but a devoted Ganapathi Pooja”. “Civility, cordiality, togetherness, co travellers in nations journey are all an anathema to these left liberals. Also it was not socialising but a devoted Ganapathi Pooja is very hard to digest,” said Santosh in a post on X. NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule said that she was surprised to see the prime minister visit CJI’s residence, but added: “I don't have faith in this government but I continue to have faith in the courts.” At a press conference in Delhi, BJP MP Sambit Patra accused the Opposition of doing politics. “Should the different pillars of democracy not converge? Should they be enemies?” he asked.
