What former CJI Ranjan Gogoi wrote in his book is not correct: Justice Madan Lokur on Collegium meetings

Former Supreme Court judge Justice Madan Lokur on Sunday emphasised the importance of transparency in the judiciary - particularly when it comes to meetings of Supreme Court and High Court collegiums - as a crucial aspect of the right to information. .Referring to a book entitled Justice for the Judge written by former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi last year, the retired apex court judge underlined how on one hand, collegium meetings are kept secret, but on the other, their details are divulged in the book."Now look how strange it is. You see on one hand, all of us are told that what happens in the Collegium is secret...But then you have a Chief Justice of India who writes in a book that this is what happened in the Collegium...What happens to the secrecy aspect? Do you call him a whistleblower? What do you call him, a person who has betrayed the confidence of the Collegium and has disclosed what has happened?" he said..Interestingly, he added that the details in the former CJI's book were inaccurate, and he knew this because he was a member of the Supreme Court Collegium at the time."It's very unfortunate. What the Chief Justice wrote was not correct. He just made up a story and said ,'Well you know this is what I think happened and I am putting it down so that it is there on record that this is what happened'. But what he has written is not correct. I know it because I was a member of the Collegium at that time," he stated..In this backdrop, he questioned where the line between opacity and the right to information should be drawn, and encouraged discourse on the same.He cited the example of Justice Akil Qureshi, former Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court, who was not elevated as a Supreme Court judge, to stress the need for collegium meetings to be open. Discussions on appointments ought to be recorded and easily accessible so that the public is aware of why a judge was appointed or overlooked, Justice Lokur suggested..Justice Lokur was speaking in his keynote address at a public meeting held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha and addressed issues related to collegium decisions, transfers of judges, need for open courts and judges taking up posts after retirement..[Watch the keynote address below] .Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.