Present state of affairs in Supreme Court is 'disastrous': Justice Lodha

Mincing no words, former chief justice of India RM Lodha urged the incumbent CJI Dipak Misra to stand up for the independence of judiciary.

He further asserted that it's job of the top judges to ensure that judiciary remains independent for a democracy to thrive.

Justice Lodha termed the present phase of Supreme Court 'disastrous' and highlighted the need for leadership within the apex court.

Justice Lodha was speaking at the book launch of former NDA minister and journalist Arun Shourie.

Talking about the current controversy pertaining to the elevation of Uttarakhand Chief Justice KM Joseph to the apex court and the current administrative issues plaguing within the Supreme Court, Justice Lodha said that the independence of judiciary is non-negotiable and the signal for ensuring so should come from the top "otherwise the day is not far when judicial system will be chaotic".

During his own tenure in 2014, Lodha had openly criticised the government for 'cherry picking' the name of Justice Rohington Nariman for elevation, while returning the name of Gopal Subramanium. Subramanium had later withdrawn his name in the wake of controversy but it was historic for the CJI to openly criticise the government.

MASTER OF ROSTER POWER CAN'T BE EXERCISED ARBITRARILY

Justice Lodha clarified that though the CJI is the 'master of roster' but the administrative power has to be exercised reasonably and within the limits of law.

"The CJI is the master of the roster without any doubt, he has had justified it twice but can he exercise this power arbitrarily? Can he do what he likes?" questioned Justice Lodha.

The former top judge was also of the view that there has to be a fair distribution of cases which is in the larger interest of the nation. He further said there is no senior or junior judge in Supreme Court and cases need to be allocated wisely to find a common ground.

Also present at the event was former Justice AP Shah who argued that the recent judgment on the pleas seeking SIT investigation in the death of judge Loya is 'utterly wrong and jurisprudentially incorrect on so many counts'.

Arun Shourie lauded the two judges for their speech and was more unsparing in his remarks about Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.

The audience had many eminent personalities including former BJP stalwart LK Advani and Yashwant Sinha. India Today Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai read out passages from Shourie's book that is being hailed as timely and addressing the most pressing concerns that plague the judiciary.

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