Stop mud-slinging against judges: CJI
NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi has said that motives being attributed to judges on Supreme Court rulings is "disturbing" and will prevent young people from going for the top legal post, breaking his silence in an interview to a television channel.
"Criticise judgements, point out legal flaws. But attacking judges who wrote the judgements and attributing motives is very disturbing. Mud-slinging against judges is a dangerous trend. Talented young people do not want to become judges because of mud-slinging. It is difficult to attract younger people to the judgeship," Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi lamented.
"They (young people) say we are earning well, why should we become Judges and have mud thrown at us. It affects our families. So the real cream...do not want to become judges."
Justice Gogoi also spoke for the first time on the controversy over judges' appointments and changes in recommendations of the Supreme Court collegium or the judges' panel that decides on the appointment and transfer of judges. "This is not unusual. Only when we send the collegium decision to the government does our decision becomes a resolution and it is uploaded on the website. If we have changed a decision before sending it to the government, it means there are some reasons which I cannot divulge," said the top judge.
"The collegium overlooking seniority is not unusual. It is wrong to say bargaining happens in the collegium," he said, referring to the controversy last month over the dropping of two high court chief justices due for elevation to the Supreme Court and the inclusion of two different names by the new collegium.
Inputs from NDTV