The Chief Justice of India RM lodha on Tuesday criticized the NDA Government for keeping him in the dark while deciding to segregate the name of former Solicitor-General Gopal Subramanium from the four names recommended for judgeship.
Breaking his silence on the controversy, the CJI confirmed that the Supreme Court Collegium dropped Subram-anium’s name after he refused to reconsider his decision to withdraw his consent to be a judge. The CJI was speaking on the sidelines of a farewell function organised for Justice BS Chauhan in the Supreme Court.
The CJI disclosed that on June 28, upon his return from an overseas trip, he met Subramanium and asked him to reconsider the decision to take back his consent to be judge. The senior lawyer responded with a six-line letter standing by his decision to withdraw, upon which the collegium “recalled” his name.
“On June 29 when he wrote a letter reiterating his position, I was left with no choice but to recall the proposal (recommending Subramanium ‘s name for judgeship),” the CJI said.
Sharing his disappointment over Subramanium going public with the letter in which he leveled serious charges against the Modi Government and the judiciary, the CJI said: “He (Subramanium) should have waited till I returned from abroad.”
Although the row over Subramanium’s appointment may have ended, Justice lodha kicked off a new controversy by criticising the Government for not taking the judiciary into confidence before deciding to keep Subramanium’s appointment on hold. The CJI blamed the Executive for segregating Subramanium’s name without his “knowledge or consent” while clearing three others names, which included senior lawyer Rohinton Nariman and two High Court Chief Justices Arun Mishra and Adarsh Goel.
Accusing the Government of acting unilaterally in the matter, lodha said that the appointment to a high constitutional office such as the Supreme Court judge should not be done in a “casual” way.
It was in reference to these developments, in his letter to lodha that Subramanium accused the SC Collegium of not standing up to the Executive to protect the independence of the judiciary. Denying the allegations leveled by Subramanium, lodha said that it was wrong to suggest that the independence of the judiciary has been compromised. “I promise the 1.2 billion people of India that the independence of the judiciary will not be compromised. I will be the first person to leave this chair if the judiciary’s independence is compromised,” he said.