SC not superior or inferior to HC: CJI Gavai
New Delhi: Chief Justice of India BR Gavai said on Saturday that the Supreme Court collegium cannot dictate a high court collegium to recommend a particular name for judgeship, emphasising both are constitutional courts and neither is superior to the other.
He was speaking at a function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) to celebrate the 79th Independence Day, where SCBA president Vikas Singh urged the Supreme Court collegium to also consider lawyers practising in the apex court for judgeship in high courts, irrespective of the fact that they have not practised there.
CJI Gavai said, “Ultimately, even the Supreme Court Collegium can’t dictate the high court collegium to recommend the names... the Supreme Court is not a superior court to the high court.
“Both the Supreme Court and the high court are constitutional courts, and so far as the constitutional scheme is concerned, they are neither inferior nor superior to each other.”
Therefore, he said, the first call has to be taken by the high court collegium on the appointment of judges.
“We only recommend the names to the high court collegium and request them to consider the names, and only after their satisfaction that the candidates deserve the designation, the names come to the Supreme Court,” the CJI said.
He said that when former chief justice Sanjiv Khanna was at the helm, the Supreme Court collegium started a practice of interacting with the candidates, and it has proved to be “really helpful”.
CJI Gavai said that after interacting with the candidates for “10 minutes, 15 minutes or half an hour”, the apex court collegium can find out as to how suitable they would be to contribute to society.
The CJI also remembered the freedom fighters and their struggle from Jharkhand’s Santhal (Hul) rebellion of 1855 to Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule in western Maharashtra. He recalled the words of Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, BR Ambedkar and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad on the occasion.
He said that the country’s history teaches the people that the struggle for freedom was not only a political moment, but also a moral and legal endeavour in which countless lawyers played a crucial role.
