The quest for a replacement for National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairman Justice J S Verma — who retires shortly — has given Ram Jethmalani the opportunity to train his guns on one of his favourite targets: Justice Anand Sein Anand. Jethmalani wrote to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee last month objecting to the possible appointment of the former Chief Justice of India as NHRC chairman. Justice Anand and Justice B. N. Kirpal are tipped to succeed Justice Verma, who retires on January 18. ‘‘Yes, I have written a letter,’’ Jethmalani told The Indian Express. He wrote to Vajpayee in mid-December, and, for good measure, sent copies to the Home Minister and Law Minister. ‘‘The candidate who gets appointed to the NHRC should have an impeccable service record and should have demonstrated his commitment to the cause of human rights. I have expressed my opinion in this regard through a letter to the Prime Minister. The Minister of Home and Law have also been informed about my reservations.’’ Justice Anand refused to rise to the bait. ‘‘I don’t know anything about it. I have nothing to say,’’ he said. Jethmalani has publicly run in with Justice Anand on several occasions in the past. He was asked to resign from the Union Cabinet on June 22, 2000, after he criticised Anand, who was then the Chief Justice, during the hearing of a petition on the implementation of the Srikrishna Commission’s report on the Mumbai communal riots. In a 17-page-long statement just after he was sacked, Jethmalani, who’s currently the chairman of the Kashmir Committee, levelled a slew of charges against Justice Anand and the then Attorney General Soli Sorabjee, claiming that they were responsible for his exit from the Government. Jethmalani also referred to allegations levelled against Justice Anand’s family regarding a land deal.
