The autobiography of Justice Ranjan Gogoi was launched by his successor and former CJI SA Bobde
Former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi has said that the Supreme Court would be filled up with judges from one or two high courts if elevation is done purely based on all India seniority of such judges.
He made the remark while questioning the usual objection of the government to a recommendation of collegiums on this basis.
Justice Gogoi, who was junior to Justice Madan B Lokur as a high court judge, writes in his autobiography "Justice for the Judge'' that he presided over a bench in the top court with Justice Lokur by his side as a junior.
"It may appear little surprising that I became a Supreme Court judge before Justice Lokur despite being junior to him as a High Court judge and as a Chief Justice of a High Court. But such developments occur as a matter of course. Being a federal court, representation in the Supreme Court subject to suitability has to be given to all the states.
"For example, if you have two judges from Delhi in the Supreme Court, a third judge from Delhi who is a senior, to say, a Guwahati judge will not be preferred if the Guwahati HC does not have any representation in the Supreme Court. In such circumstances, it is the Guwahati judge, though junior, would be considered for elevation not the Delhi High Court judge," he writes.
The 46th CJI and the first from the northeast states justify the inclusion of junior high court judges to ensure proper representation of states in the topmost federal court of the country and expressed surprise over the objection raised at times by governments citing all India seniority.
"There is much logic in this practice for if elevation to the Supreme Court is to be made purely on the basis of all India seniority, thus Supreme Court may be filled with judges belonging to one or two high courts to the exclusion of all other high courts and the states represented/serviced by such high courts," former CJI and Rajya Sabha lawmaker writes.
Justice Gogoi said "very interestingly" as many as 16 judges were appointed in the top court who were senior to him as high court judges and compiled a list of judges saying the "readers may find it interesting".
"I, therefore, do not know why at times the government raises the issue of all India seniority of high court judges ... recommended by the Supreme Court collegiums for elevation to the Supreme Court and objects to the recommendation on that basis. All India seniority has always been only one of the parameters for consideration for elevation to the SC, " he said.
The autobiography of Justice Gogoi, which was launched by his successor and former CJI SA Bobde in a function on Wednesday, also deals with various issues and decisions concerning collegium.
On the decision of the collegium to withdraw its recommendation to appoint Justice Akil Kureshi as Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court and appoint him instead as Chief Justice of Tripura High Court, he writes that it was to "avoid a confrontation between the constitutional bodies."
"On 10 May 2019, Justice Kureshi was recommended by the collegium for appointment as Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. In the process of consultation, the law minister in his letter dated 23 August 2019 expressed the objection of the Union government to the recommendation. The objection was based on a negative perception flowing from certain judicial orders passed by Justice Kureshi. It would have done nobody any good if the objection of the government had come into the public domain," writes Justice Gogoi.
Recently, Justice Kureshi has been transferred to the Rajasthan High Court as the Chief Justice in September this year following the recommendation made by the collegium headed by present CJI NV Ramana.
The Rajya Sabha lawmaker also writes that the collegium''s decision, in principle, to recommend two High Court judges, Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Rajendra Menon. This could not fructify as the discussions in the collegium meeting were leaked.
"Though we had agreed on them at the collegium meeting, the names of Justices Nandrajog and Menon had not been sent to the law minister as per the procedure. In fact, the letter to the law minister was yet to be drafted. Having talked to Justice Lokur, I decided to keep the matter in abeyance," he writes.