Judiciary succumbing to the powerful will of the Executive, Guj HC Adv. Assn writes scathing letter to Collegium

The Gujarat High Court Bar Association (GHCAA) has written a scathing letter to the Collegium setting out a slew of concerns regarding vacancies in High Courts. The GHCAA has come down upon the Executive in strong words for interfering with judicial appointments..The letter has been written by the GHCAA President Asim Pandya. Besides, praying that the process of appointment of High Court be expedited. GHCAA has also requested the Collegium to consider a judge from Gujarat High Court to be elevated as judge of Supreme Court..The letter states that the Gujarat High Court is functioning with 31 judges as against its sanctioned strength of 52..“Needless to mention that on account of these vacancies, the litigants of Gujarat are facing severe hardships in getting quick justice. I therefore request you to process the pending recommendations at the earliest.”.The letter states that there are at least eight files that are under consideration for appointment. Besides that, the letter also mentions about two older files, which are pending because the two candidates had not attained 45 years of age at the time when recommendations were made..“As per my knowledge, at present approximately 8 recently sent files are under consideration and two old files (recommendation of February 2015) of Mr. Jai Unwala and Mr. Anshin Desai are also pending. The files of Mr. Unwala and Mr. Desai were kept pending at the relevant time since at the time of their consideration, they had not attained the age of 45. The aforesaid files were kept pending with the remark that their willingness should be ascertained after they attain the age of 45.”.The letter states that while Mr. Desai later informed the Gujarat High Court that he is no longer interested in becoming a High Court judge, Mr. Unwala’s file is yet to be taken up for consideration though he has now attained the age of 45..“I humbly request you and the Collegium to take into consideration the file of Mr. Unwala also together with the recently sent files and take a decision one way or the other”..The letter then raises concern about the fact that there is no judge from Gujarat state as Chief Justice in any High Court or as a judge in the Supreme Court..“The second issue which is very grave is about the fact that at present there is no one representing the State of Gujarat as Chief Justice in any High Court and the Supreme Court. It is an unwritten convention that while making appointments, to the post of CJ of High Court and as a judge of the Supreme Court, this factor is invariably kept in mind. I, therefore, humbly urge you and the Collegium to do the needful in this regard at the earliest.”.The letter then proceeds to raise the issue of non-appointment of Justice Jayant Patel and Justice Abhilasha Kumari as Chief Justice of High Court..Terming it shocking, the letter states:.“The non-appointment of Hon’ble Justice Jayant Patel and Hon’ble Justice Abhilasha Kumari as Chief Justice of High Court without any lawful reason or justification is shocking. The whole intention of the majority judgment to which Your Lordship is party in declaring the NJAC being unconstitutional was to keep the executive and the ruling party away from meddling with the independence of judiciary. Now by creating an impasse in appointments to higher judiciary for one and a half years, the executive and the ruling party has brought the desired result of judiciary succumbing to the powerful will of the executive.”.The association has alleged that many deserving candidates are being denied elevation to the Supreme Court and as CJs in High Court due to the exertion of political will..“This will ultimately lead to the destruction of the rule of law and the independence of judiciary which are part of the Basic Structure of the Constitution.”.The letter ends with a request to the Collegium “not to deviate from the longstanding and healthy conventions under pressure from any quarter and make appointments in accordance with the firmly embedded past conventions.”.Interestingly, the Supreme Court had, just last week, disposed of certain PIL petitions concerning appointment of judges to High Courts..Bar & Bench spoke to Asim Pandya regarding the same. Pandya says,.“That petition should have been kept pending because these issues are still alive and have not been resolved.” .When quizzed on the stall of transfer of Justice MR Shah from Gujarat High Court Pandya said:.“I think that has come to an end. A news piece has already appeared that his file is not being considered. .Ultimately what I wanted to convey is that there is a political interference in judicial appointments. Chief Justice of India should not be influenced by external factors and should follow the conventions, which are already in place.”.Read the letter below.