Justice Chelameswar launches Appointment of Judges to the Supreme Court of India

The launch of the book titled ‘Appointment of Judges to the Supreme Court of India’ was held at India International Centre in Delhi yesterday. The book launch was followed by a discussion featuring Supreme Court judge Justice Jasti Chelameswar, along with Professor Paul Craig of Oxford University..The discussion, moderated by Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy’s Arghya Sengupta – who was one of the editors of the book – touched upon various aspects of judicial appointments, including criteria for elevation, the constitution of the panel appointing judges, and transfer of Chief Justices of High Courts, among others..Eminent members of the Bar including Former Law Minister Salman Khurshid and former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi were in attendance. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who was initially part of the panel, could not be present owing to health concerns..Sengupta kicked things off by asking Justice Chelameswar what he deems to be the essential qualities of a judge. The judge responded,.“There are certain qualities which are timeless, like impartiality.”.After a brief discussion on how the method for appointing judges has changed over the years in the United Kingdom, Chelameswar J was asked if India would ever have a system wherein judges apply for the post. In response, the Supreme Court judge said in jest,.“You mean officially applying for it?!”.As regards a lack of clarity around the criteria for elevation to the Supreme Court, Justice Chelameswar said,.“…some amount of maintenance of records of collegium meetings would make things clearer. An assessment of the performance of a judge is hardly done. Assessments go by impressions.”.On the same topic, it was debated whether objectivity in appointing judges was possible. Professor Craig laid down the qualities for appointment as a judge. He put forward the view that there is a need to appoint smart people who make good decisions. Ability to write clear, analytical judgments, honesty and transparency were some of the other qualities required, he opined..On asked whether judges themselves were the best people to appoint other judges, Prof Craig stated,.“…the best form of an appointment panel is a mixed panel. There should be some judicial appointees and other people with trustworthiness and intellect.”.The discussion moved on to diversity in the higher judiciary and more specifically, the inclusion of women in the highest courts of the country. Sengupta asked Chelameswar J whether India would have a woman Chief Justice of India if civil society was included in the appointment process. Chelameswar J, who had penned the sole dissenting judgment in the NJAC case, said,.“I don’t want to speculate. As far as participation of civil society is concerned, my views are on record in the NJAC judgment.”.After acknowledging that judicial reforms were required to retain the trust of the public in the institution, Justice Chelameswar then spoke about the rationale behind having Chief Justices from other states manning high courts. Questioning the same, he said,.“If I stayed back in Andhra Pradesh, every decision of mine would be looked at. Are we sure that outside Chief Justices are not being influenced by local factors?”.He then went on to narrate his experience as Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court..“Gauhati High Court had seven different benches. How long would it take for people to get acquainted with the system? By the time the Chief Justice understands the local problems, he is elevated, transferred or retires.”.The next topic was the need for a permanent Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court. On this point, Chelameswar J said,.“[It is] certainly an idea I would welcome. It requires a relook at the jurisdiction of the court. If it were really to do only Constitution matters, there would be no use for 31 judges. Each one of the 31 is a Supreme Court.”.The judge was also of the opinion that a review of Article 136, by which the Supreme Court is empowered to grant special leave to appeal, was the need of the hour..“If there were another appellate court above us, half our judgments would be reversed! If the quality of High Courts is not up to the mark, we need to improve the quality.”.The panel then took questions from the audience, after which the event came to a close..The book contains a collection of essays written by various lawyers who argued in the NJAC case, including Arvind Datar, Mukul Rohatgi, Arun Jaitley and the late TR Andhyarujina. In the words of Arghya Sengupta, who edited the book along with Ritwika Sharma, “it is a deep dive into the constitutional concepts of judicial independence and separation of powers”.