Letter to BS: Insulate the judiciary from inappropriate politics

This refers to “CJI impeachment: Naidu order on motion illegal, says Congress” (April 23). The alleged misuse of administrative powers by the Chief Justice of India (CJI), Dipak Misra to assign cases with far-reaching consequences “selectively” to junior judges and benches “of their preferences” points to outright disregard of the conventions on the allocation of judicial work and questions the integrity of the institution itself. However, instead of initiating impeachment proceedings against the CJI, the Opposition should have demanded the strengthening of the mechanism for performance evaluation of senior judiciary. By rejecting the impeachment notice, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu has set a safe precedent and not yielded to any temptation to interfere on “mere suspicion, conjecture or assumption” of proved misbehaviour by the CJI. It is time the executive came up with a public consultation to explore the possibility of establishing an independent commission that can insulate the judicial system from inappropriate politicisation and reinforce public confidence in the system.

Shreyans Jain  

New Delhi