When judges judge for themselves

SHILLONG: The recent order of Justice SR Sen to provide facilities for retired judges and their families is reminiscent of the order passed by former chief justice of the High Court of Meghalaya Uma Nath Singh and former justice TNK Singh.
Prior to their retirement, the chief justice had ordered on January 7, 2016, to provide Z category security to him and Y category for the former judge Singh.
However, after state resident Sajay Laloo challenged this in the Supreme Court, only normal security arrangement was allowed for them.
In a suo motu proceeding, the former chief justice wanted the state government to provide permanent security for him and other retired judges.
In the recent order, Justice SR Sen, who is set to retire in March, wanted several facilities for the retired chief justice and judges, their spouses and children. Besides providing medical facilities for the spouses and children, the order stressed the need for providing protocol, guest houses, domestic help, mobile/internet charge at the rate of Rs 10,000 and mobile for Rs 80,000 for judges.