Kolkata, Oct. 25 -- MAITC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday accused the BJP of failing India politically and the Supreme Court of failing it institutionally, describing the latter as a deeper betrayal.
"The BJP has failed India politically. The Supreme Court has failed India institutionally. The latter is the deeper betrayal," Abhishek wrote on X, reacting to revelations by former Supreme Court judge Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul regarding judicial appointments under former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud.
Justice Kaul reportedly said that Justice Chandrachud used to seek the government's views on proposed judicial appointments before the Supreme Court Collegium formally deliberated on the names. He described the practice as seeking the government's "pre-approval" and expressed his disapproval of such an approach.
In an interview with journalist Karan Thapar for The Wire, Justice Kaul recounted an incident from his forthcoming memoir, Without Fear Or Favour. According to him, during a Collegium meeting, Justice Chandrachud took him aside and asked whether he should telephone the government to ascertain its views on the proposed appointments.
Justice Kaul said he advised against such a move while the Collegium was deliberating on the names. He also recalled that the Collegium had agreed on five names, while Justice Chandrachud wanted a sixth name, introduced at the last minute, to be approved as well. Justice Kaul said he and the other Collegium members were not agreeable to the proposal.
He further suggested that the former Chief Justice might already have obtained some form of government approval for the other names, including the sixth candidate.
Abhishek's remarks come amid renewed debate over judicial independence and the relationship between the judiciary and the executive, particularly concerning appointments to constitutional courts.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.