New Delhi: Justice R M Lodha, the Chief Justice of India on Monday said to lawyer Ram Sanker after hearing on a PIL, “For God sake, don’t shake the people’s confidence. We are not perfect. We can’t be. We are from the same society as you are. But we are a very important institution in a democracy. Attempts to malign all the judges just because of allegation against one or two judges are unfair. If there is a campaign to defame judiciary in the eye of public, you are doing a great damage to democracy.”
Chief Justice of India RM Lodha on Monday came out strongly in defence of the collegium system of appointments even as hours later the government tabled a bill to overhaul the way senior judges are picked in the country. He said, “Everyone is out to condemn the collegiums system as a failure I am from the first batch of judges selected via collegium and Justice Rohinton Nariman (son of senior lawyer Fali S Nariman who sits with him) is the last one to be selected. At present, all the judges of the Supreme Court and high courts are the products of the collegium system. If this system has failed, then the products too have failed and entire system has failed.”
The CJI said, “All judges at present are products of the collegium system.”
He said, “As an institution the collegium had its limitations in selecting persons. After all judges too come from the same society. But to carry on a campaign just because of allegations against one or two judges is unfair.”
The angry outburst came while CJI heard a PIL questioning “re-recommendation” by collegium headed by him of the elevation of Karnataka HC judge K L Manjunath allegedly involved in corruption as chief justice of Punjab and Haryana HC.
CJI had also criticized media for misreporting facts and generating controversy. CJI said, “I am the chief justice of India. I think I head the collegium unless there is another one. I don’t know about this. What is the source of these reports? We have not recommended his elevation as high court chief justice.”
Bureau Report
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