Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai on Friday said that the Supreme Court Collegium under him will ensure “complete transparency” in appointment of judges.
Justice Gavai said that pendency of cases was a “huge” issue, which the SC is trying to resolve and unfilled vacancies of judges were one of the reasons. The CJI said he will follow up on names recommended by the SC collegium.
CJI Gavai was addressing the felicitation by Bombay Bar Association (BBA), in Mumbai held at Central Courtroom (Number 46) on the second floor of the Bombay High Court building.
Justice Gavai said that he will make efforts to ensure that the Bombay High Court begins functioning with a full strength to reduce the pendency of cases.
With two additional judges taking oath on Friday, the Bombay HC will now function with 65 judges — 49 permanent judges, and 16 additional judges.
However, the sanctioned strength of the court, which is the second largest in the country after the Allahabad High Court, is 94.
“From the period of Justice Sanjeev Khanna (as CJI), we have tried to infuse more transparency in the matter of appointments of judges. In the last three days, we held interviews with nearly 54 candidates and recommended around 36 appointments… All of us know that the pendency is a huge issue. We are trying to work on it. One of the reasons for the pendency is the vacancies which are not filled up,” CJI Gavai said.
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He referred to Justice Dipankar Datta of the SC who had, last week, flagged the issue over interference in the functioning of the Collegium.
Justice Datta had said that the external forces which prevent the enforcement of Collegium’s recommendations should be dealt with in stern manner.
“I must assure you that we will ensure that we will adopt a complete process of transparency. While ensuring that the representation is given to all sections of the society, the merit will never be compromised. And insofar as my own High Court (Bombay HC) is concerned, I can assure that whatever name are recommended, we will try to follow up on that as soon as possible till the Bombay High Court starts functioning at a full strength, so that at least the issue of pendency is addressed to some extent,” Justice Gavai said.
CJI Gavai also reiterated that the Supreme Court is not a CJI-centric court and he along with earlier CJIs, including Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Uday U Lalit had tried to “dispel” the said impression.
“After I became Chief Justice or rather before that when Justice Sanjeev Khanna had taken over and even during the period of Justice Uday Lalit (as CJI), as I have said on earlier occasions, that the Supreme Court of India is a court of all the judges. The Chief Justice is only first amongst the equals.And we have tried to dispel the impression that the Supreme Court of India is a CJI-centric court. Immediately on my assuming office on May 14, the very next day, we had a full court meeting wherein all the judges participated and we made many decisions in the interest of the institution.”
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CJI Gavai also revealed that when his name was recommended in 2019 for elevation to the Supreme Court, one of the judges on the
Collegium was not in favour of the same as he was told that it would lead to “unrest” in the original side bar of the HC.
However, senior Mumbai lawyers told the judge of being under “wrong impression”.
Justice Gavai said his elevation as SC judge and later CJI wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the BBA.
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He went on to say that after taking over as CJI, he refused to speak to the media about his “roadmap”.
“Because I personally believe that rather than speaking now, after six months (post retirement), if I am in a position to achieve something, it is better to speak thereafter. Rather than giving lots of promises in the beginning and disappointing at the time one leaves the office.”
