Tweeter, Non-performer, late comer – former SC judges who feature in NJAC judgment

The 1,030 page judgment striking down the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) has already made front page headlines. Interestingly, buried in the judgment authored by the presiding judge, Justice JS Khehar, are the submissions of the Attorney General on three former judges of the Supreme Court..Though the judgment does not name the judges, the description of their qualities (or rather the lack of it allegedly) as submitted by the Attorney General divulges that the three judges in question are – Justice Markandey Katju, Justice Cyriac Joseph and Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra..While Justice Markandey Katju has been vocal on social media including Twitter and Facebook and on his blog after retirement, Justice Cyriac Joseph had become infamous for authoring just 6 judgments in his tenure at Supreme court which lasted for over 3.5 years. The third judge, Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra had attained notoriety for coming late to court regularly..The submissions of the AG has been detailed in the judgment as follows:.“It was submitted, that the Memorandum of Procedure for Appointment and Transfer of Chief Justices and Judges of the High Courts, as also, for elevation of Judges to the Supreme Court, were bereft of any such particulars, and the absence of any prescribed criterion, had resulted in the appointment of Judges, even to the Supreme Court, which should have ordinarily been avoided. The learned Attorney General made a reference to three instances, which according to him, were universally condemned, by one and all. One of the Judges appointed to this Court, according to him, was a non-performer as he had authored just a few judgments as a Judge of the High Courts of Delhi and Kerala, and far lesser judgments as the Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand and Karnataka High Courts, and less than ten judgments during his entire tenure as a Judge of the Supreme Court. The second Judge, according to him, was notoriously late in commencing Court proceeding, a habit which had persisted with the said Judge even as a Judge of the Patna and Rajasthan High Courts, and thereafter, as the Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court, and also as a Judge of the Supreme Court. The third Judge, according to the learned Attorney General, was notoriously described as a tweeting Judge, because of his habit of tweeting his views, after he had retired. Learned counsel for the respondents, acknowledged having understood the identity of the Judges from their above description by the learned Attorney General, and also affirmed the factual position asserted in respect of the Judges mentioned.”.The Attorney General’s submission was that these judges would not have been elevated to the Supreme Court but for the Collegium system. Justice Khehar has, however, proceeded to defend the judges. His defence of Katju J. is particularly interesting and reads as follows:.“…it has not been possible for us to comprehend, how and why, a Judge who commenced to tweet his views after his retirement, can be considered to be unworthy of elevation. The fact that the concerned Judge started tweeting his views after his retirement, is not in dispute.”.Khehar J. has also said that the competence and integrity of the aforesaid were not in doubt and the “political executive” had not objected to their appointment. He has also cited the fact that the judges were offered post-retirement jobs by the political-executive thereby, concluding that.“In the above factual scenario, either the learned Attorney General had got it all wrong. And if he is right, the political-executive got it all wrong, because it faltered despite being aware of the factual position highlighted.”.The judgment also refers to the submissions of Senior Advocate and SCBA President Dushyant Dave who had made submissions about another judge who had suo moto heard a matter which was not listed before him and passed orders in that matter. The said judge is Justice CK Prasad who is now the Chairperson of the Press Council of India. Interestingly, he succeeded Justice Markandey Katju to that post.