Very disappointed with CJI Gogoi says Justice Madan Lokur

New Delhi, Jan 24: Former Supreme Court judge, Justice Madan Lokur openly admitted that he was disappointed with the Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi for withholding from public domain the resolution of the Collegium that met on December 12.

The practise of the Collegium is to put up the decisions on the website for the public to see. Justice Lokur, while speaking at an event said that there was a meeting that took place on December 12 2018. This is reflected in the decision of the next Collegium that met on January 10. Once the resolution is passed by the Collegium, I would expect it to be put on the website. It does disappoint me when the same was not put up on the website, Justice Lokur also said.

He however said that the Collegium in the existing form is the best system, but at times there are problems and hence the system needs to be tweaked. While speaking on the Memorandum of Procedure that came into force after the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) was struck down, Justice Lokur said that the MoP lays down the age, income of persons to be recommended as judges, but not the mechanism as to who should be consulted on complaints against a judge who is being considered.

"For instance, if a High Court Collegium makes a recommendation and the state government does not respond for six weeks, in such a scenario, the Union Law Ministry can proceed on the assumption that the state has no objection. However if the Law Ministry does not make that assumption, will files remain pending forever. We have seen how the government sat on the appointment of Justice K M Joseph for months together.

There is a need to bring about change, but the amended MoP is silent on many things," he also said.

Justice Lokur, who was part of the press conference addressed by the senior most judges of the Supreme Court last year said that there was a need to go to the media. They achieved a certain degree of openness in the allotment of matters. Judges should remain as hermits sitting in ivory towers as they need to interact with people around them. However judges must stay out of the political thicket, he said.