Judges and justice

Under any circumstance, a Supreme Court chief justice’s recommendation that a senior judge be removed from “service” is an arresting development. But Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan’s formal letter in this regard to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh comes at a particularly piquant juncture. The case of impropriety in the conduct of Soumitra Sen, a judge of the Calcutta High Court, has been revealed amidst a few incidents regarding other senior judges that, left sufficiently unaddressed, could imperil the judiciary’s credibility. The extreme step of kickstarting the possibly long-drawn impeachment process also highlights the judiciary’s lack of options to deal with such cases.

Justice Sen is the second judge against whom impeachment has been recommended. In 1993, the impeachment motion against Justice V. Ramaswami did not carry in the Lok Sabha. Sen came under scrutiny for appropriation of monies as a court-appointed receiver in a case, also in 1993. A case for deeming this as misconduct was duly made by a three-judge inquiry committee. And upon the findings of this committee, the chief justice has asked for the process of Sen’s removal to be begun. To be admitted in Parliament the motion would need the support of 100 members of the Lok Sabha or 50 members of the Rajya Sabha. To pass, it requires a two-thirds majority of those present and voting. The process is stringent for good reasons, the most important being to maintain the independence and keep members of the superior judiciary beyond the influence of fear and favour. It is also, as our op-ed columnist explains today, a consequence of expectations that such cases would be rare. However, the question is, if the procedure for acting upon the whiff of wrong-doing by a judge requires such a lengthy process, could the process not itself become an impediment to regulation? Or, what does it say about the regulatory framework if, as the law minister told reporters, the chief justice could have been driven to seeking Parliament’s action because the judge refused to resign?

Many reforms are under consideration — among them, giving a National Judicial Council some leeway to act against a judge if an inquiry establishes possible misconduct. Also on the table is a move to do away with the requirement for the support of 100 Lok Sabha or 50 Rajya Sabha MPs for an impeachment motion to be admitted in Parliament. The point is not to seek more impeachments per se — but to make sure that there is public confidence that the judiciary avails of enough ways to regulate itself.