The Hindu : National : I raised the image of judiciary: V.N. Khare

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Sunday, May 02, 2004

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I raised the image of judiciary: V.N. Khare

By Our Legal Correspondent

Chief Justice V.N. Khare during an interview to The Hindu at his residence in New Delhi on Saturday. - Photo: V.V. Krishnan

NEW DELHI, MAY 1. "When I took over as the Chief Justice of India in December 2002 the image of the judiciary was at its lowest ebb. The Karnataka, Rajasthan, Punjab and Delhi scandals — all affected the image of the judiciary. I wanted to restore its image and prestige and today I am a satisfied man in redeeming the image of the judiciary," said the CJI, V.N. Khare.

In an interview to The Hindu on the eve of his retirement, Mr. Justice Khare said: "My first priority was to stem the rot in the High Court and pull up errant Judges and by and large I succeeded in my efforts to make the Judges mend their ways and behave properly."

On the Gujarat incidents, particularly the Best Bakery case, Mr. Justice Khare said: "I found there was complete collusion between the accused and the prosecution in Gujarat, throwing rule of law to the winds. The Supreme Court had to step in to break the collusion to ensure protection to the victims and the witnesses. I was anguished and pained by the turn of events during the trial of the riot cases but was determined to salvage the criminal justice delivery system. I gave a new dimension to criminal jurisprudence as on the one hand one Bench of the Supreme Court monitored the progress of the prosecution in the riot cases while another Bench decided on the judicial side... the correctness of the High Court order (in acquitting all the 21 accused in the Best Bakery case)."

Heading a three-Judge Bench, he put the Narendra Modi Government in Gujarat under the gavel and made scathing observations on the State Government and the way it was handling the riot cases. Mr. Justice Khare even advised it to follow the "raj dharma" or quit.

Recalling his observations, he said: "If a State failed to prosecute the accused the democracy will be at peril, we as watchdogs had to intervene to save democracy."

On judicial activism, he said: "It is not our intention or desire to ask the Executive to do this and that. Only when the Executive fails to perform its statutory obligations, the necessity for us to interfere arises."

On corruption in the judiciary, he said: "Our subordinate judiciary is not up to the mark. I cannot comment on the degree of corruption. It is shaking the faith of the people in the judiciary. It is up to the Chief Justices of the respective High Courts to remedy the system." On the mass leave by 25 Judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Khare said: "I do not have powers to deal with corrupt and undisciplined Judges. I feel exasperated that the Chief Justice of India has no powers under the Constitution to even ask for an explanation from the deviant Judges."

He said "the in-house mechanism evolved by the Supreme Court in consultation with the Chief Justices of the High Courts morally binds the Judges. But time has come to confer powers on the CJI or a collegium of senior Supreme Court Judges headed by the CJI to deal with the problem of corruption and indiscipline among Judges." He said: "The framers of the Constitution did not envisage that after 50 years things will collapse. Now time has come that the CJI should be given power of superintendence over the High Courts by amending the Constitution." On the Centre's proposal to set up a National Judicial Commission, Justice Khare said: "I am against such Commission."

The CJI, whose order scuttled the Government's move to appoint a bureaucrat as head of the Competition Commission, disapproved of the trend of the Executive trying to usurp judicial functions by appointing civil servants as head of tribunals.

On arrears of cases, he said one way was to increase the strength of Judges but this would involve financial implications and the Centre must take the responsibility to provide finance to the States. "During my tenure as the CJI, the Supreme Court disposed of about 49,000 cases while over 50,000 cases were newly instituted," he said.

Asked whether he was satisfied with his performance as a Judge, he said: "It is for the people of the country to judge what I have done. The letters I get everyday in hundreds from common men reposing faith in the judiciary is the best compliment I could expect from any quarter. It shows affection, love and regard of the countrymen. Whatever little I could have done for the country, I have done." No doubt his tenure will go down as a golden era in the history of the Supreme Court for the manner in which he dispensed justice.

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