The transfer comes even because the Supreme Court is in its conventional summer season recess, making the size of this train significantly important. (Representational picture)
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai and justices Surya Kant and Vikram Nath, the highest three judges of the Supreme Court, held intensive one-on-one interactions with judicial officers and attorneys advisable for the excessive courts of Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, Patna, Rajasthan and others.
People accustomed to the event mentioned the collegium opted for these interactions “over and above” the traditional vetting course of that usually entails reviewing judicial efficiency, searching for Intelligence Bureau inputs, and contemplating the views of the chief minister and the governor, along with inputs from the division of justice beneath the legislation ministry.
“These interactions are supposed to transcend the written report and get a way of the candidate’s character, temperament and total suitability,” mentioned one of many individuals cited above, including that the conferences had been held in two batches over two days on the Supreme Court.
Notably, the transfer comes even because the Supreme Court is in its conventional summer season recess, making the size of this train significantly important. The improvement additional aligns with CJI Gavai’s choice to rebrand the summer season trip as “partial courtroom working days”, throughout which high benches, together with these led by the CJI, heard a number of issues over the last week of May. Two or three benches have been functioning 5 days every week to listen to pressing and common issues through the “partial working days” between May 26 and July 13, whereas judges are additionally utilizing the time to jot down detailed judgments and put together for upcoming circumstances.
Now, the executive and institutional aspect of the apex courtroom, significantly the collegium work, has additionally been introduced beneath this partial work regime. “The message is evident that judicial and administrative work within the high courtroom doesn’t cease with the courtroom calendar. This is an indication of intent to maintain up institutional momentum even throughout recess,” mentioned one other particular person.
The newest transfer follows a precedent set late final 12 months when the collegium beneath then CJI Sanjiv Khanna revived the apply of personally interviewing candidates. As reported first by HT in December 2024, the collegium had carried out in-person conferences with candidates being thought of for numerous excessive courts.
The revival of non-public interviews was seen on the time as a response to rising considerations round judicial conduct and suitability, particularly within the wake of an argument involving Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav of the Allahabad excessive courtroom, whose inflammatory remarks concentrating on the Muslim group and invoking majoritarian themes at a VHP occasion in December 2024 drew widespread condemnation for violating the ideas of secularism and judicial impartiality.
At that point, the collegium, which included justices Gavai and Kant, had signalled the necessity for a extra direct and holistic understanding of judges’ temperaments and outlooks, past what could possibly be gleaned from service data or intelligence inputs.
The newest spherical of interactions, that are broader in scale and ambition, cements the non-public interview mannequin as a key characteristic of the collegium’s new method. It additionally comes within the wake of an argument involving sitting excessive courtroom choose, justice Yashwant Varma, who’s battling allegations of a money haul from his residence in Delhi in March.
On May 5, a three-member in-house enquiry committee submitted its report confirming that money was certainly discovered on the residence of justice Varma, who was then a Delhi excessive courtroom choose. This money was stored in a storeroom the place a hearth broke out March 14, following which hearth service officers and police, engaged in dousing the flames, found half-burnt foreign money notes stacked in a sack. Then CJI Sanjiv Khanna initiated the method for the removing of justice Varma by writing to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating that the allegations had been critical and warranted initiation of proceedings for his removing beneath the Constitution.
Notably, the trio conducting these interactions consists of not simply the current CJI but additionally the following two in line — Justice Surya Kant is about to take over as CJI in November 2025, adopted by Justice Vikram Nath in February 2027. Their joint involvement on this course of highlights a continuity of imaginative and prescient throughout future leaderships of the courtroom.
According to one of many individuals cited above, the candidates had been requested wide-ranging inquiries to gauge their understanding of constitutional values, views on urgent authorized points and their sense of ethics and institutional accountability.
“While these interactions aren’t binding, they supply the collegium with worthwhile qualitative perception. Further, the senior judges’ private involvement in candidate evaluation reveals the judiciary’s evolving method to appointments, emphasising integrity, character and steadiness, along with seniority and benefit,” the particular person added.
No Comment! Be the first one.