Senior Advocate and Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Kapil Sibal on Saturday said that judgments of highly-liberal judges often witness a change once they become Chief Justice of any High Court.
Sibal, who is also a Member of Parliament (MP), opined that this happens because the High Court Chief Justices aspire to become judges of the Supreme Court.
"Highly liberal judges who become Chief Justices suddenly find - at least I find - that the colour of their judgments is very, very subtly being changed. Because it's human frailty. You want to go to the Supreme Court, no arguing with that," the senior counsel said.
Sibal was speaking at a lecture organised by the Sikkim Judicial Academy at its Auditorium Hall.
In particular, he commented on the Collegium system followed for appointment of judges to the higher judiciary.
Sibal said that the appointments made by the Collegium are not necessarily based on merit.
"And that is where the problem arises. The (HC) Chief Justice looks up to the Supreme Court judges. And that is reflected in their orders, I'm sorry to say that," he added.
He said that the thought process behind devising the Collegium system was good.
"The problem was that at that point in time, we thought the problem was that lawyers and judges were running to politicians for their appointment. They would pay obeisance to the powers that be. So instead of doing that, let's have a Collegium system because judges of Supreme Court and High Courts best know which lawyers deserve to be elevated to the Bench. That was the thought behind it, and it was a good thought."
However, problems arose after that as the lawyers now started running to the judges for their appointment. Similarly, he said the High Court judges go to Supreme Court judges for their elevation.
"And when Chief Justices are appointed around the country, which Chief Justice will go to the Supreme Court depends on what? What are those parameters? Nobody knows what those parameters are, naturally," he added.
Sibal also said that when a Chief Justice from a particular High Court is elevated to the top court, he naturally recommends someone's name for elevation.
"This is what happens in reality. We must be open about it. We can't change the system unless we talk honestly about it. There is no point in pushing this under the carpet," he said.
Sibal explained that in this process, the High Court judges become subordinate to the Supreme Court, even if the Constitutional structure does not allow it.
"The High Court judges look to the Supreme Court for moving up the ladder. The subordinate courts and judges of the judiciary there look up to the High Court to go to the High Court," he said.