New Delhi, Jan 17 (UNI) Union Finance Minister and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Thursday
slammed the manner a section of lawyers and others had attacked former Chief Justice Dipak Misra and maintained that the threat to the independence of judiciary can also come from the 'public pressures' the 'Compulsive Contrarians' exert on Judges.
"There are a set of extra-adventurist lawyers practising in the highest Court, as in every other Courts. Their strategy is to over-awe the Court. They threaten to walk out of cases, they move impeachment motions in their Political capacity to flex their muscles and clout, they make public comments on Judges. They use media to intimidate the Court," Mr Jaitley wrote in a lengthy blog piece posted on Facebook.
In this context, he wrote that a press conference addressed by four Judges of the Supreme Court over a year ago - January 12, 2018 - has done "more damage to India’s judicial institutions than many would have envisaged".
"It brought Judges into public gaze as factionalised and battling for their own turf space," he said, who has gone abroad for treatment, adding having involved themselves in an 'ugly public conduct', Judges find themselves unable to exercise jurisdiction to stop such conduct by others.
"The last Chief Justice (Justice Misra) was attacked by the Compulsive Contrarians. A precedent has now been legitimised. His successors will find it difficult to escape similar treatment. The threat to the independence of judiciary can also come from the public pressures that these Contrarians exert on Judges," writes Mr Jaitley, also an eminent lawyer.
"Collegium proceedings and conversations in the past two years have been faithfully reported in one particular newspaper (a Compulsive Contrarian), thereby underscoring the nexus. If the Law Minister invokes the seniority principle as he did last year in the case of one appointment to the Supreme Court, the Contrarians call it an attack on the independence of judiciary. When the Contrarians raised the issue of inter-se seniority, as had happened recently, it becomes their crusade for independence of the institution. Amazing double standards".
The remarks from the senior lawmaker and Minister comes aftermath the row sparked off yet again
following the appointment of Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court, and Justice Sanjiv Khanna of Delhi High Court as judges of the Supreme Court.
The government notification on new appointments after Presidential approval came about a week after the Supreme Court Collegium, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, recommended their elevation.
The Collegium’s decision led to a row because it overturned decisions taken by it in December.
In his blog Mr Jaitley slammed the Opposition leaders calling them 'compulsive contrarians'.
"The right to campaign for stifling funds to the economy in the name of the autonomy, justifying corruption in the name of institutional independence, attacking Judges when the verdict is not favourable, manufacturing facts as in the case of Judge Loya’s death and the Rafale deal are indicative of the mindset of the Compulsive Contrarians," he castigated such school of thought.
Nations are built, said Mr Jaitley - ".... by those with positive mindsets and a national vigor, not by the Compulsive Contrarians. Didn’t left-liberals find fault with the various actions that Gandhiji took during the freedom movement?"
UNI DEVN RSA 1612