Justice Ajay Rastogi, who retired last month as the fourth senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, in an exclusive interview to News18 defended the judges who are often criticised on social media for their judgment, and said they can make mistakes and are “always open to corrections”. “Do not promote this, allow judges to work independently on the basis of law,” he requested the media.
In an interview to News18, Justice Rastogi also spoke on the collegium system, which appoints judges to constitutional court and has been a bone of contention between the judiciary and the Centre.
“The government came with NJAC in 2015, though it was struck down. Will the fulcrum of the NJAC or the present collegium make any difference? Ultimately, it is that we collectively take a call based on the data,” he said.
National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) is a proposed body to make appointment of judges and chief justices in high courts and Supreme Court more transparent, where they will get selected by a commission, whose members are drawn from the judiciary, legislature and civil society.
When asked on sharing R&AW and Intelligence Bureau reports in collegium resolutions, Justice Rastogi said, “We, in a collective system in the collegium, take a decision. The collegium thought that the people should know…the more you hide, the more people start making comments, let everything possible be shared before the people at large.”
Some reports on the Supreme Court collegium resolutions, which contained portions of IB and R&AW reports on certain names recommended by the top court for appointment of high court judges, were made public in January. The then law minister Kiren Rijiju had called it a matter of “grave concern”.
A debate over sedition law in the country, Justice Rastogi said people are far more aware of their fundamental rights, and particularly, their freedom of speech and expression. “Nothing wrong in criticising the government. Every criticism will not fall under the purview of sedition…I feel personally that the government must revisit the provisions and make it clear so that even people are aware of their boundaries.”
The Supreme Court, which upheld the constitutional validity of the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Justice Rastogi commented that if the power is arbitrarily exercised, they are always open to judicial review. “We have to trust the system. Somewhere down the line, we have to permit the system to work, but general comments of abuse of powers aren’t justified.”
When asked about Opposition leaders being targeted by the central agencies such as the CBI and Enforcement Directorate, he said it is a “perception”. “My request is that, regardless of party politics, anyone who commits something wrong, must be put to charge and booked by the agencies and party lines should not be a consideration.”
With debate on Uniform Civil Code raging on, Justice Rastogi did not directly comment on it, but said whatever be the ultimate result, it will be “respectfully acceptable to us”.
Amid the Maharashtra’s NCP split, and Ajit Pawar joining the Eknath Shinde-led government, Justice Rastogi commented that such political considerations need to be taken by the political parties. “Let them take their own call.”
On the release of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case, Justice Rastogi said the media was “not well informed”. He said the convicts had completed their sentence under Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). They had filed an application before the Gujarat High Court where they were imprisoned.
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