‘Jus Chandrachud was ‘too deferential’ to govt on judge appointments’

New Delhi: Former Supreme Court judge Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul has made a startling allegation that former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud discussed proposed judicial appointments with the government before the Supreme Court Collegium formally deliberated on them, a practice he described as seeking the government’s “pre-approval”.

In an interview with journalist Karan Thapar for The Wire, Kaul recounted an incident detailed in his forthcoming memoir, Without Fear Or Favour. He said Chandrachud had asked whether he should telephone the government to ascertain its views on proposed appointments during a Collegium meeting. Kaul said he opposed the move.

According to Kaul, the Collegium had agreed on five names, but Chandrachud wanted a sixth name, introduced at the last minute, to be approved as well. Kaul suggested that the Chief Justice might already have obtained some form of government approval for the proposed names.

Kaul said advance discussions with the government had become a practice, including before and after Chandrachud’s tenure, but warned that discussing the entire list beforehand created problems. He cautioned that a Chief Justice with a two-year tenure could establish a precedent that would be difficult for successors with shorter tenures to resist.

Distinguishing judicial and administrative responsibilities, Kaul praised Chandrachud’s intellectual ability and hard work on the judicial side but said he was “too deferential” to the government in consultations and administrative matters.

Kaul also revealed that Chandrachud had taken the judges’ appointment matter away from his bench and advised him to take a “middle path” in the reconsideration of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) judgment.

Kaul clarified that government consultations were not inherently wrong; the problem lay in their timing and manner.