Deccan Chronicle: New Delhi: Wednesday, April 25, 2018.
Vice-President
of India and Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu on Monday rejected the
motion to impeach the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra. The Congress
Party-led Opposition had levelled charges of corruption and favouritism in the
allocation of cases to judges, and a suspect acquisition of land many years ago
when Justice Misra was an advocate.
Mr Naidu
rejected the motion on the ground that the charges were conjectural.
The Congress
Party is likely to challenge Mr Naidu’s decision in the Supreme Court, where
naturally Justice Misra would decide who would hear the case. He could recuse
himself. Or he might not. But this is the typical Indian bottleneck in which
things tend to turn on themselves and become a source for stand-up comedians naturally
a flourishing breed.
Deep down
just everyone I know believes that politicians, bureaucrats and judges are
corrupt. If our individual quotidian experience is any indication, this is
likely to be true. We are a corrupt people. Perhaps because we don’t believe in
the efficacy and fairness of the system. Perhaps because we are, again, a people
poor and insecure. Perhaps because we know all of us are on our own we don’t
live in the welfare-driven Nordic European countries. Seriously, then, we don’t
expect too much of integrity in institutions and individuals, so long as on the
whole we are able to get by with little or large bribes given or taken.
Justice Misra
heads an institution that arbitrates even the most unethical Indian’s urge for
justice when his skin is on fire. That is his right. Besides the commonsensical
yardstick that Justice Misra’s reputation now tarnished for good should be
above suspicion, we would, despite the cynicism born of our own despair at
ourselves, be in the right to believe that someone out there is fairer than
ourselves. The question is whether Justice Misra is that saint.
Equally, the
question is also about the process that produces that just man. Normally, the
outgoing Chief Justice of India recommends and the President of India appoints
the Chief Justice.
What goes
into this besides seniority is a bit of a mystery. Naturally, all ruling
establishments would like a pliant CJI, as he has the powers to interpret the
law and the Constitution. He will be vetted, of course. Even a police constable
is. That’s not saying much for the process, though.
Nearly a decade
ago, under the Right to Information Act (RTI), the Central Information
Commission had directed the Supreme Court to furnish details of whether judges
had filed their declarations of assets; and the Supreme Court had challenged
this in the Delhi high court. On September 2, 2009, the high court had ruled
that the declarations were within the ambit of RTI.
Yet, in
October 2017, the Economic Times was reporting: “Almost a decade after the
Supreme Court passed a resolution deciding to make judges’ assets public,
nearly half of the 25-odd judges of the top court are yet to make their assets
public, a sign which bodes ill for its latest administrative resolution to
place collegium decisions on appointments and the reasons for them in the
public domain. The reason for not making assets public: the disclosure is
voluntary and not mandatory. Only 13 of the 25 judges have so far made their
assets public. Among those who have disclosed their assets are Chief Justice of
India Dipak Misra, Justices Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B. Lokur,
A.K. Sikri, S.A. Bobde, R.K. Agrawal,
N.V. Ramana, Arun Misra, A.K. Goel, R. Banumathi and A.M. Khanwilkar. Most of
the judges who have been recently elevated have not declared their assets.”
So this
writer took a look at the man of the moment Justice Misra’s (and his wife’s)
assets declaration form, filed in 2012. His financial worth is modest.
Outstanding possessions included two houses one in Delhi, one in Cuttack; a
small fixed deposit of `7,40,000, and two gold rings. Not a rich man.
Certainly, not corrupt. That’s on the positive side. But these details were
accessed from a form filed in May 2012. We will leave it at that. If the assets
of a Chief Justice are a crucial determinant of his integrity, it would be good
to know what Justice Misra’s current assets are.
Normally,
these are questions that should be debated without fireworks in Parliament. But
the Indian Parliament has long forfeited its role as an articulator of issues.
When is the last time you were enlightened listening to a parliamentarian’s
words? All the more reason why then that the judiciary should be seen as acting
on the side of that curious monster, the Indian citizen, helplessly corrupt,
but desperately aspirational.
These are the
golden days of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar. Currently he is the most sought after
indeed, the most fought after icon in Indian politics. Politicians kills and
steal for the mantle of his legacy, if only because he is the future father of
the nation. Here are his famous words spoken in the Constituent Assembly:
“There can be no difference of opinion in the House that our judiciary must be
both independent of the executive and must also be competent in itself. And the
question is how these two objects can be secured.”
Ah, that man,
Justice Misra. Ah, that man, Ambedkar. And that question have we secured the
two objects?
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