Many constitutional court cases are political issues dressed up as legal ones: Justice S Muralidhar

Former Orissa High Court Chief Justice S Muralidhar on Thursday said that a significant number of cases before the higher judiciary are actually political issues disguised as legal ones..The retired High Court judge said that judges in such cases cannot be said to be completely neutral. "Lots of issues coming to courts are where a political issue is dressed up as a legal issue. Even today's two news developments - the Lakshadweep administration's decision [to not have meat in mid-day meals], and in Kerala where some flags were prohibited in temples. Judges think they are neutral [in such cases] but when you reject an argument, you make a political point. People should perhaps know where a judge stands," he said..The former judge also bemoaned the lack of 'candour' in print media, in terms of criticially analysing how key judgments are authored by individual judges."We need that candour, an insider's view. Legal correspondents who covered courts earlier generally had to be very restrained. There is a system of accreditation of journalists, which means you can lose your card if you are not reporting properly what transpired.".Justice Muralidhar was speaking at the book launch of Unsealed Covers : A Decade of the Constitution, the Courts and the State, authored by Advocate Gautam Bhatia.The book is a compendium of Bhatia's blogposts from the last ten years..In his speech, Justice Muralidhar also flagged newspaper reports with exclusive scoops on the judiciary and judicial processes, which show that information was being leaked selectively."This shows exclusivity, that I have the source. This affects objectivity and coverage. We [thus] do not have critical evaluation of where judges come from in this country."He shared some interesting insights on how judges pen judgments in Constitution Bench cases."There is a lot of negotiation during Constitution Bench judgments. In at least two cases after the dissent, the majority had to up their game. And so you find that the majority judgment is very hurriedly written," he said, perhaps alluding to the Aadhaar and Central Vista cases..The former judge went on to say that appointments of judges to the Supreme Court needs to be scrutinised since it involves a 'succession plan', with a 'deliberate choice' of who will be the next Chief Justice of India.He concluded his speech by asking how many in the bar believed in honestly critiquing the judiciary."You will see that you can count on your fingers lawyers who appear in such (contentious constitutional) cases.".Justice S Muralidhar retires as Orissa High Court Chief Justice; says Justice Akil Kureshi a source of great inspiration.Speaking at the event, Gautam Bhatia responded to the criticism that some deemed the tone of his book harsh."Harsh criticism is not meant to be so, but when it is only weapon then ..."He added that he comes from a position of being a part of the losing side in constitutional cases over the last ten years.Bhatia went on to speak of how courts are in a fix while handling demolition cases."They cannot say malafide or take allegations at face value, but have to examine. But if multiple happenings are there over a period of time, then courts can interfere to say how many times.".He called the idea that the Supreme Court Collegium involves a depoliticised process as a 'dishonest and unhealthy conversation' to have.In conclusion, he said that the CJI's master of the roster powers have to go."For one person, it is too much [power]. I have no compunctions in saying that.".Senior Advocate Rebecca John and journalist Seema Chisti also spoke at the event.