Lordships at war: Former CJI blasts

Supreme Court colleagues over

'leaked' meeting details which
'lowered his image'

By Gyanant Kumar Singh[1]

Published: 22:38 GMT, 23 July 2013 | Updated: 22:38 GMT, 23 July

2013

Former Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir on Tuesday responded

to a rash of recent insinuations and allegations that he pushed
through a key appointment days before passing on the baton to his
successor on July 18.

A deep rift in the Supreme Court Collegium, comprising five

senior-most judges of the court, stood exposed as the former CJI
issued a release saying that Chief Justice P. Sathasivam and other
members of the Collegium had "themselves" fixed July 2 as the
date for consideration of a proposal to elevate the senior-most
judge from Madhya Pradesh to the apex court.

The former CJI said that he was then told by the rest of the
Collegium at the July 2 meeting that he was not in a position to
deal with the appointment. He said the process for elevation of the
high court Chief Justice, who was from Madhya Pradesh, began in
October 2012 but was deferred "on one pretext or the other".

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 Rift: Justice Altamas Kabir (far left) has been blamed for trying to
rush through a last-minute appointment, but claims the date for
consideration of the issue was chosen by Chief Justice P
Sathasivam (right) and others

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 'Shot down'
The former CJI did not name anyone in particular, but said he
suggested the name of the judge once again on May 1, 2013 but
discussion on the issue was "shot down" by one of the members of
the Collegium.

"My attempts to bring up the matter for discussion was again shot
down as one of the members of the Collegium wanted time to find
out about the background of the judge concerned," he said in a
release.

Justice Kabir said his request to convene a meeting of the

Collegium before the court went for a seven week-long summer
vacation was also turned down. The suggestion to hold a meeting
on July 2 did not "emanate from me" but from others, including
the "present Chief Justice of India" and they were "fully aware" of
the fact that by then the name of the new Chief Justice would have
been notified.

On July 2, he was, however, told that no further meetings of the

Collegium could be held as Justice Sathasivam had been
nominated as the next CJI. He was also informed that the opinion
of five previous Chief Justices had been taken in this regard.

Justice Kabir pointed out that he wanted representation from

Madhya Pradesh as the state had no representation since the judge
from the state retired in August 2012. That there were differences
within the Collegium is a likely inference from the fact that CJI
Kabir (as he then was) seems to have been unaware of the opinion
sought from five former Chief Justices until he was told about it at
the July 2 meeting.

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 Justice Kabir said the confrontation in the meeting of the
Collegium on July 2 had been "leaked to the press" but what was
reported was "a classic example of less than half truth in action".

Though he did not directly name anyone, he said "certain reports

began to appear just before I was to demit office as the Chief
Justice of India".

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 The release went on to say: "People who have read the said articles
immediately commented about the timing of the publication of
such articles."

The former CJI also responded to the charge by Gujarat High Court
Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya that he was not elevated
because he had opposed appointment of Justice Kabir's sister as a
judge in the Calcutta High Court.

'Unanimous'
Pointing out that present CJI Sathasivam had spelt out in detail,
during his farewell, the manner in which the Collegium
functioned, he said it was not possible for an individual to stop an
elevation. In the case of Justice Bhattacharya, he said the decision
not to elevate him was "unanimous".

Justice Kabir has also written to Justice Bhattacharya, with copies

to President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, to set the record straight on this issue.

In the letter, Justice Kabir says Justice Bhattacharya made

"insensitive references" to his sister, going on to state that he had
recused himself when her appointment was being considered.

"In your case, the matter was before a Collegium consisting of five
judges who took a unanimous decision," the letter said.

Justice Kabir also sought to justify his recent order in favour of

Sahara in connection with the high-profile case of refunding the
savings of thousands of small investors. The former CJI said it was
not his personal decision but that of a bench, and that the time for
payment was extended to protect the interest of investors.

Mail Today repeatedly tried to get in touch with CJI P. Sathavisam

but he remained unavailable for comment.

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