NEW DELHI, Oct 27: The Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud has attempted to allay the apprehensions among the people over the judges at times meeting the government bosses and said meetings between the heads of government, whether at the state or central level, and the Chief Justices of the High Court or Supreme Court should not be viewed as striking a deal.
He noted that during the meetings with the Chief Justice, the heads of government always stick to the ‘political maturity’ and never talk about a pending case.
Addressing a ‘lecture series’ at the University of Mumbai, the CJI Chandrachud said, “We do meet but that doesn’t mean that there is some deal cracked. We have to be in dialogue with the Chief Minister (CM) of the State because they will have to provide budgets for the Judiciary. And this budget is not for the judges. If we do not meet and only rely on letters our work won’t be done.”
“But when we meet, trust me, there’s a great deal of maturity in the political system and in those meetings, never in my experience, would a CM speak about a pending case,” the CJI said.
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It comes after a recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to CJI Chandrachud’s residence in Delhi for Ganpati Puja celebrations that triggered a controversy. The CJI further remarked that the administrative relationship between the court and the government was different from the judicial work which the judges do. And same thing operates at the central level, CJI Chandrachud emphasised.
“Administrative relationship between Supreme Court and the Government of the day is distinct from the judicial work done by the apex court. It is a tradition that the CM or the Chief Justice will meet each other on festivals or bereavement. But surely we must have the maturity to understand it has no bearing at all on our judicial work. We must understand that one will not ‘adjust’ anything in a meeting viewed by the public,” the CJI said.
Amid the row over PM Modi’s visit to CJI’s residence, the opposition had said it might raise doubts about judicial impartiality in the minds of the people. The BJP responded, saying that the visit was restricted to Ganpati Puja celebrations, and it was a “part of our culture.”
(Manas Dasgupta)