Primacy of judges must be maintained in all consultations of SC Collegium: Advocate Saurabh Kirpal

Speaking at the Kolkata Literary Meet, advocate Kirpal noted that some of what is being discussed within the collegium should be put out in the public domain.

On being asked about his viewpoint on judges being biased on certain issues, Kirpal said it is a “fallacy to assume that a judge can be completely divorced from the upbringing, social milieu, from their conception and ideas” and added that it shapes who they are.

He further noted that every judge will have some kind of viewpoint on a matter. He went on to explain that “bias is when you go out with a predetermined mindset, that I will always no matter what rule in favour of this particular thing.”

“This is not typically how a judge should think,” he added.

He pointed out that there is a well established mechanism of a concept called recusal if a judge finds that he/she is emotionally attached to a particular case that justice cannot be done to it.

The Centre had objected to Kirpal’s appointment as Delhi HC judge because of his sexual orientation — if appointed, he could be India’s first openly gay judge — and because his partner is a citizen of Switzerland. Last week, however, the Supreme Court Collegium disagreed with the government’s position and reiterated its November 11, 2021 recommendation to appoint Kirpal as a judge of the Delhi High Court.

A three-member Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, and also comprising Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, said Kirpal’s appointment as a judge was pending for five years and had to be processed “expeditiously”.

Kirpal’s address came on a day when Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju termed as “serious issue” the Supreme Court making public the government’s objections on the appointment of three advocates as judges of the High Court.