Legal bodies criticise ruling on Chief Justice of India primacy
Lawyers at the Hyderabad HC also felt the though the judgment may be right but the way it was adopted to hear the case.
Hyderabad: The judgment of the Apex Court reaffirming the superiority of the Chief Justice of India has been facing sharp criticism from the legal luminaries.
Legal luminaries are of the opinion that though the Chief Justice of India is undoubtedly the master of the roster, he could not have been part of the bench which has reaffirmed the superiority of the Chief Justice.
Justice B. Chandra Kumar, former judge of the Hyderabad High Court, explained that there is a practice in the judiciary either at the High Courts or the Supreme Court that judges will recuse from hearing the cases whenever some motives have been attributed against them
He said it is usual practice at the Supreme Court for the CJI to recuse himself from cases in which the Supreme Court is the respondent on the grounds of conflict of interest, since the CJI is the administrative head of the Supreme Court Registry.
If an allegation has been made against a judge and the same judge was hearing a case which is with reference to the allegation, it is against the customs and practices of Indian Judiciary, he added.
Lawyers at the Hyderabad HC also felt the though the judgment may be right but the way it was adopted to hear the case, was against the judicial practice and was also unethical.
Justice J. Chelameswar senior most judge of the Supreme Court in an open interview a couple of days ago said “The CJI is the ‘master of the roster’. Undoubtedly, the CJI has this power. The CJI has the authority to constitute the Benches but under constitutional system every power is coupled with certain responsibilities. The power is required to be exercised not because it exists but for the purpose of achieving public good. You don’t exercise the power merely because you have it.”
Chief Justice Dipak Mishra has been facing criticism after allocating the petition seeking probe into the case of the mysterious death of special CBI judge BH Loya.
Mr Shanthi Bhushan, senior lawyer and former Law Minister who had also moved a PIL questioning the powers of the CJI had listed 10 cases as examples wherein the CJI has allegedly abused his power.