Minority tag a hindrance to career progression, says Justice Joseph

NEW DELHI: Two days after his retirement from the Supreme Court, Justice Kurian Joseph said 'minority tag' was a hindrance to career progression of members of religious and ethnic minority communities and feared it could get worse in the coming years given the situation in the country.

In an exclusive interview to TOI on Sunday after hosting a lunch for his personal staff — from private secretary to cook to sweeper — Justice Joseph said, "Minority tag is a hindrance to career progression. Even if a member of minority community has outstanding merit, he is recognised only because of his minority identity and not merit. The minority tag is always linked to his/her selection to a post."

Speaking of his experience, the retired judge said, "I was also considered that way and not on my merit. But towards the end of my career, there was poetic justice. If I were to get into Supreme Court to fill the slot that fell vacant on Justice Cyriac Joseph's retirement, then I could have become an SC judge in 2012, before Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Madan B Lokur. But I was selected on merit and hence was sworn in as a judge of the SC in March 2013." This means, if he had been appointed on the minority tag, then he would have succeeded Justice Dipak Misra as CJI.

Asked whether 'minority tag' could become a burden on career-oriented youth when intolerance and communal sentiments are rife, he said, "The issue of minority tag obstructing merit could get worse if corrective steps are not taken and selections are not based purely on merit."

On selection of SC and HC judges in the context of 'minority tag' bias, he said, "This perception can be corrected, if selection is purely merit based without considering caste, creed, religion or region of a person. When a person spends years as a judge of the HC, he actually forgets all biases and misgivings based on community, religion or cultural diversity. His focus is only to do justice. So, when the time comes for selecting judges to the SC, it should be merit based." He added a caveat that there should be a small window to give representation to diverse communities, cultures and regions without sacrificing minimum merit.

"There has to be some consideration for poor and weaker sections. Even the Constitution makes such provisions to extend helping hand to poor, economically and socially backward classes as well as women. I call it constitutional compassion. This must be there while selecting a person as a judge and even while deciding a case," he said.

Asked about his best moment in the SC, Justice Joseph said it was when a child drew a thank you card for him for uniting her parents who were estranged for years and fighting a matrimonial case. "It also gave me great pleasure when I successfully mediated and made a warring couple walk out of my courtroom holding hands. There was another instance, where a couple had instituted several cases and was extremely bitter towards each other. In my courtroom, they shook hands and parted as friends. All these gave me immense pleasure," he said.

Given the mediated justice he dispensed to the satisfaction of warring couples, Justice Joseph wants to experiment with a new concept — mediated arbitration and mediated conciliation. He said arbitration involved so much of effort and money, yet the arbitration awards ended up in court, taking years to reach finality.