An unsavoury row has been created over the failure on the part of former Chief Justice DY Chandrachud to vacate his official residence many months after his exit from the post. That the apex court has made a formal complaint to the housing ministry seeking eviction of the ex-CJI shows the seriousness of the issue. A former chief justice who headed the apex court is, in effect, violating the law. This is a sad commentary on the nation’s judicial system itself.
Dignity of the Supreme Court, or any institution for that matter, rests solely on the dignified conduct of those who run, or ran it. Notably, however, the Supreme Court has had embarrassments relating to some CJIs in recent times. The institution of CJI is facing odds due to the ‘musical chair’ style of frequent promotions and appointments to this exalted post. The present CJI Justice BR Gavai has only about six months to remain in this chair before he retires; that too inclusive of the long summer recess that came in between. Chandrachud himself had only two years to hold the post before his retirement in November last year. Then came Sanjiv Khanna for no more than six months. It’s a pity that the CJI before Chandrachud, Justice UU Lalit, sat in the chair for just over two months. Before a CJI sits down and gains his full composure, retirement bells toll. It goes without saying that, due to such disruptions, the system will suffer serious damage.
As of now, the government has its limitations to correct the judicial system. Unless and until a bold government that means business comes and gives new energy to the judicial system, the scenario of palpable, pronounced drift would continue. The attempt of any government should be to strengthen the system, not to weaken it. Significantly, an argument advanced by Chandrachud, that his daughter was undergoing treatment in a prominent Delhi hospital and hence he wanted to stay on in the same house looks silly. Both should have no connection whatsoever. This is unacceptable also for the reason that Chandrachud has been offered an alternative official residence to move out to, but he wouldn’t. If he’s taking liberties, this is unbecoming of the exalted position that he held. That the SC administration had to run with a complaint to the Housing Ministry showed the limits of its patience. It must, however, be noted that several parliamentarians including former ministers have taken such liberties and advanced lame excuses in the past and stayed on, and on, in their official residences. Political culture is admittedly low but judicial culture cannot be equated with, or run parallel to that. Systems must be held sacrosanct and these must be allowed to run their normal course without interruptions. It’s a pity that a former CJI does not understand this or its seriousness and creates a wrong precedent to his successors too.
