Justice Shah questions accountability for judges

Source: The Times of India dated 29.07.2019

Pradeep.Thakur@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:
Speaking about the recent allegation of sexual harassment against the Chief Justice of India, former Law Commission chairman Justice A P Shah said the entire process of handling the complaint was shrouded in secrecy in the name of protection of judicial independence. He claimed that the last three CJIs violated the principle of no man being a judge in his own case.

“A permanent employee of the SC was removed from her post on the flimsy allegation of her having taken a half-day casual leave, and protesting her seating arrangement. Her relative was dismissed from the same service soon thereafter. She made allegations of sexual harassment against the CJI, in response to which there was an unusual hearing that took place on a Saturday without a petition having been moved,” said Justice Shah, who retired as chief justice of Delhi HC in 2010 and served as chairman of the Law Commission between 2013 and 2015.

In what was termed a “matter of great public importance touching upon the independence of the judiciary”, the person holding the highest judicial office in the land sat as a judge in his own cause, Justice Shah said. “Three judges attended that hearing, but the order that emerged was surprisingly signed only by two, with the CJI choosing to abstain,” he said while delivering the Rosalind Wilson Memorial Lecture here on Sunday.

He also questioned the rationale of the SC’s registrar general issuing a public statement that the complaint was false. All this demands a relook at the accountability system for judges in India, he said.