Hon'ble President, CJI and SC Collegium : Take away Judicial Independence of Two Corrupt SC Judges
- Vineet Malik
- Jan 22, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 11, 2022
By Vineet Malik | January 21, 2022 | London, England
The exclusive story published by The Revelation that debunked two Judges of the Supreme Court of India (SC) on their admission pertaining to alleged misconduct of the SC Registrar and contemptuous lower court Judge and still exonerating them from committing contempt has demeaned the credibility of India’s top court
Days after erroneous order passed by the two-judge bench of the SC presided by Justices Kuttiyil Joseph and Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha, 67 years old litigant - Manubhai Hargovandas Patel, resident of Mumbai has filed an application against them to the President of India – Ram Nath Kovind, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana along with four other Judges of the SC Collegium with a plea to take away their judicial independence.
Who did Two SC Judges Exonerate through Unreasoned Order
Anil Laxman Pansare, then Registrar (JII) posted in India’s top court now promoted as Bombay HC Additional Judge who not only miserably failed to comprehend the elementary rules of law but also made an attempt to shield corrupt Metropolitan Magistrate Ankush Pundlikrao Khanorkar, 68th Court, Borivali, Mumbai in a contempt petition filed by Patel.
Interestingly, In October last year, the government of India promoted and transferred Anil Laxman Pansare as a judge of the Constitutional court in the same city; Mumbai in Maharashtra where Ankush Pundlikrao Khanorkar is a sitting Metropolitan Judge.
“SC being the highest court of India is the guardian of the Constitution. I have filed the application under Article 51A of the Constitution of India that makes me duty bound as a ‘Citizen to develop scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform’ with a plea to take away judicial independence of two Judges of India’s top court.” says Patel.
Article 142 of the Constitution of India
The Constitution of India under Article 142 empowers the SC for passing any decree or an order as is necessary for doing complete justice, under any law made by the parliament.
Democracy is in Danger : Four Judges of the SC said in 2018
In January 2018, four senior most Judges of the SC went public and called a press conference. That had never happened in India before. The Judges expressed their resentment against the then CJI Deepak Misra.
They said “All four of us are convinced, that unless this institution is preserved and it maintains its equanimity, democracy will not survive in this country.” The statement was shared in light of violation of established precedents in assigning of cases among the judges. The matter pertained to selectively assigning politically sensitive cases to handpicked junior judges for desired outcome. The Judges added, “This was adversely affecting the justice delivery system and there is a threat to democracy.”
More than 1600 Complaints filed against Judges since last Five Years
Kiren Rijiju, Minister of Law and Justice informed the Parliament that, 1622 complaints were forwarded to the CJI or concerned CJs of the respective HCs as per the established “in-house mechanism”.
Procedure to Remove HC or SC Judge
In India, a HC or SC Judge can only be removed on charges of corruption or impropriety through a tedious process of impeachment. The SC in the past had ruled that, no First Information Report (FIR) can be registered against a Judge, nor, a criminal investigation initiated without prior approval of the CJI. A Judge of the HC or SC can only be removed through a complicated procedure of impeachment.
This can be only decided by members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the two houses of Indian parliament.
The judges impunity is strengthened by the fact that the impeachment procedure is not only convoluted but also prone to political influence.
Former CJI on Corruption in Judiciary
“I should firmly admit that the judiciary is not untouched by corruption. When we take the oath as a Judge, we swear to be fair and impartial in all our judicial functions. However, on some occasions in the past, few judges had wilfully dishonoured the oath by adopting to corrupt practices.
The solution for eliminating this disorder lies in the hands of the litigants. The litigants must take the responsibility for bringing into the light such occurrence by making a grievance petition before the CJ of respective HCs and also to the CJI. If a prima facie case is made out through the preliminary enquiry, then the judge should not feel hesitant to adopt the prescribed procedure under the mandate of the Constitution.” said Former CJI Palanisamy Sathasivam.
“It remains to be seen that, how many more such alleged corrupt judges will be shielded by these two SC judges and for how long the corrupt judicial system will continue to fail people seeking justice in so called independent India.” says Patel.
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