'Chief Justice Should Have Final Say In Judges' Appointment'

Chief Justice of India A M ahmadi has expressed the view that the Chief Justice must have the final say in the appointment of judges, but only after a thorough and effective consultation with the executive .It is not a question of primacy. What I feel is that there should be a very effective consultation process .... I think normally the view of the Chief Justice would ultimately prevail but effective consultation is most important, he told Star News in an interview.

A press release from the private TV-channel quoted Justice Ahmadi as saying that if the executive had any objection it should communicate this to the Chief Justice and at the end that process what emerges should be the ultimate.

Ahmadi, who is retiring on Tuesday, said he did not see any confrontation between judiciary and the executive as a result of increased number of judgments on politicians.

The role of the judiciary in a democratic system has always been to safeguard the fundamental rights of citizens. Sometimes, this process may bring about confrontation but we do not quite see it this way, he said.

Claiming that he had set the apex court as an institution on an even keel during his two-and-a-half-year-long tenure, he said, adding that he was happy to note thta the backlog of cases had been reduced to 22,000 and attributed it to team effort.

He however, did not deny that there was a trend among some judges to play to the gallery and urged both judges and media to exercise greater self-restraint.