Let a judicial commission appoint judges: BJP

Calcutta High Court Judge Justice Soumitra Sen.

He said the commission’s members can be drawn from the judiciary and executive,besides prominent citizens. At present judges are appointed by a collegium of judges.

Expressing anguish over the “increased trend” of the executive giving jobs to judges post-retirement,he said,“There is a possibility of retirement-eve judgements getting

influenced in search of post-retirement jobs… this is a serious threat to judicial independence.”

The Constitution provides for separation of power of the executive,legislature and judiciary,he said.

“While there is no crossing of ‘Lakshman rekha’ by the executive and legislature,there is serious sidestepping from judiciary,” Jaitley,himself an eminent lawyer and former Law Minister,said.

Recently there were cases where courts gave comments on how to tackle Maoism,fight insurgency and what should be the land acquisition policy. They also commented on release of a Pakistani prisoner.

The courts cannot decide on these issues as they are supposed to be dealt by the government,which alone would decide whether to exchange an Indian prisoner for the Pakistani prisoner with us,he said.

On the impeachment motions,Jaitley said Sen had presented “serious falsehood” about the facts of his case in the House yesterday.

He said it was a “fit case” for the removal of the judge and the House should recommend it to the President in this regard.

The senior BJP leader said before appointing a judge,details of his record as a lawyer,judgments written by him and how many of them been set aside should be taken into account.

When Jaitley was speaking,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was present in the House and members of both Treasury and Opposition benches applauded his forceful presentation.

Jaitley said Justice Sen “misled” the House about his case by hiding the “truths”.

Inquiries by committees set up by the Chief Justice of India and the Rajya Sabha Chairman have brought to light that there were a series of withdrawals from the bank accounts through cheques and cash by Sen,both as a lawyer and as a judge.

“Cheques cannot lie but individuals can,” he said,showing xerox copies of the cheques given by the bank.

On Sen’s argument yesterday that he would scream from the rooftop that he had not misappropriated funds,Jaitley said all withdrawals made by him would “continue to hang around his neck as an albatross” even if he did so.

E M Sudarsana Natchiappan (Congress) supported the motions saying he “felt sorry” the way in which the serving judge was attacking the judiciary as such words were never even used in Parliament.

Opposing the motion,Satish Chandra Mishra (BSP) said the charges against Sen have not been “proven” and there has been “no misappropriation” of funds by him and,hence,he should not be removed.

“The findings have said ‘there has only been diversion of funds and not misappropriation’ and secondly the finding of a single judge was dismissed by a division bench,” he said.

Mishra said charges of misappropriation were levelled against him when he was a lawyer and not as a judge. Therefore,it should not be the ground for removing him as a judge.

He,however,felt the credibility of judiciary has diminished over the years.

Underlining the need to uphold probity in the profession,the BSP leader,himself a lawyer,recalled an incident when he had turned down an offer to elevate him as a judge when allegations were raised against him.

Supporting the motions,N K Singh (JD-U) pointed out that Sen “sought to make a false hiatus” in the House to garner support.

He said Sen had sought to “alter” the meaning of misappropriation when it was a fact that money received by him had to be deposited in a trust.

“He could not have diverted them,” he said,noting that the conduct displayed by him as an advocate was “unbecoming” of him.

Singh said time has come to expedite judicial reforms process in keeping with the economic growth of the country and stressed the need for setting up of a judicial commission.

Tiruchi Siva (DMK) also spoke on the need for judicial reforms and changes in the system to appoint of judges.

Y P Trivedi (NCP) and Kishore Mohanty (BJD) also supported the motions and said it was time for judicial reforms.