Two senior judges of the supreme court has asked the chief justice– first during a customary morning tea of judges and then through a formal letter -- to call a full court to discuss the “institutional issues” and “future” of the apex court.
The Indian Express reported that “Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Madan Lokur,” who were part of the unprecedented public press conference of four judges that spotlighted the concerns about the functioning of supreme court, “wrote on Monday to chief justice Dipak Misra for a full court” amid concerns in the judiciary that the government is weakening its independence by ignoring recommendations of the collegium.
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The paper reported that the chief justice was non-committal.
In a full court, all 25 judges, including the chief justice, would be required to sit together, discuss the issues and arrive at a decision. The CJI, who is the master of the roster, may call the full court only if he is convinced that the grievances merit attention.
The Centre’s interference in judicial administration, though talked about silently, came to the fore after Justices Jasti Chelameshwar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur and Kurian Joseph expressed their concern over the corrosion and compromise taking place within the institution of the judiciary and especially within the portals of the Supreme Court.
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Justices Chelameswar and Kurian Joseph also wrote letters to the Chief Justice calling for an open court over the government sitting on collegium’s recommendation on judges appointment and the delay in rolling out the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP).
There are at least three cases of perceived government interference in collegium’s recommendation – delay in appointment of Justice K M Joseph and Indu Malhotra to the apex court, overriding recommendation to make permanent Punjab and Haryana high court judge Ramendra Jain and the centre directly writing to the Karnataka high court over an inquiry into a judge whose name has been resend by the Collegium for appointment as a High Court judge.
