Judges appointment: SC pulls up Bar, slams conduct of HC judge

The Supreme Court today pulled up members of Chennai Bar for taking "pre-mature step" of filing a petition against recommendation for appointment of judges to Madras High Court and disapproved of the conduct of a sitting judge there who had interfered with a hearing in the case.
The apex court said conduct of Justice C S Karnan, who on January 9 walked in as a special bench of the high court was hearing the matter, "raised a negative murmur about the maintenance of propriety in judicial proceedings".
Justice Karnan had said the choice of judges to be appointed was not fair.

"The sudden unfamiliar incident made us fume inwardly on this raw unconventional protest that was unexpected, uncharitable and ungenerous, and to say the least it was indecorous," a bench comprising justices B S Chauhan, J Chelameswar and M Y Eqbal said.
While deliberating on the issue of petition seeking recall of the 12 names recommended by the collegium of the High Court, the apex court said instead of waiting for the proposal to be considered by the collegium headed by Chief Justice of India they took a "premature step" of filing the petition before the Madras High Court.
"Thus, it is apparent that judicial review is permissible only on assessment of eligibility and not on suitability. It is not a case where the writ petitioners could not wait till the maturity of the cause i.E. Decision of the collegium of this court.

"They took a premature step by filing writ petitions seeking a direction to Union of India to return the list sent by the collegium of the Madras High Court without further waiting its consideration by the Supreme Court collegium."
On the Justice Karnan incident, the bench said, "In ordinary life, such incidents are not reviewed with benevolence or generosity, but here we are concerned with a larger constitutional issue of the justiciability of the cause."
However, the bench said the "personal conduct" of the sitting judge, who was not a party to the proceedings before the high court "does not require any judicial response for investigating the unusual circumstances and scrutinising the same as it is not necessary to decide the issue at hand".