Mumbai: A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed before the Supreme Court seeking that there should be a “cooling off” period of two years before any retired judge of the apex court or high courts can accept a political appointment contending that acceptance of political offices is adversely affecting public perception about independence of judiciary.
BLA founder President Ahmad Abdi files PIL
The PIL was filed by the Bombay Lawyers Association through its founder President Ahmad Abdi. It states that its objective is “upholding the independence of the judiciary, the rule of law, and the principles of reasonableness” as well as “to save the democratic principles and the basic aim and object of the Indian Constitution”.
“The acceptance of political appointments by the Judges of this Court (SC) and High Courts after retirement without any cooling off period is adversely affecting public perception about independence of judiciary,” it said, adding: “In more recent times, Chief Justice (since retired) P Sathasivam was appointed as the Governor of Kerala, Justice Ranjan Gogoi (ex-CJI) was nominated to Rajya Sabha and Justice Abdul Nazeer was appointed as the Governor of Andhra Pradesh.”
SC court directed to declare it was a constitutional requirement
It has urged the SC to direct and declare that it was a constitutional requirement that “after retirement there should be two years cooling off period for the Judges of Supreme Court and High Court from accepting any other political appointment”. The PIL has sought that the Centre be directed to impose a condition at the time of appointment that after retirement there would be a cooling off period of two years for the judges of the higher courts before they accept a political office.
Further, the apex court request the retiring judges not to accept political appointments during the pendency of the plea, it adds. ''That the petitioner states and submits an independent judiciary is responsible for upholding the rule of law which is considered as a prerequisite for a democratic form of government. Hence, the acceptance of political appointments by Judges of this Hon'ble Court and High Courts after retirement without any cooling off period is adversely affecting public perception about independence of judiciary,” it adds.
Retired Judges have been appointed to political offices since Independence, it said. “In 1952, Justice Fazal Ali was appointed as the Governor of Orissa, shortly after retiring from this Hon'ble Court. In 1958, Chief Justice M C Chagla resigned from the Bombay High Court in order to become India's Ambassador to the US at Prime Minister Nehru's invitation. In April 1967, Chief Justice Subba Rao resigned from this Hon'ble Court to contest elections for President,” the plea adds.
Referring to the report on the IPL spot-fixing scandal, the PIL states that the SC court-appointed panel led by former CJI RM Lodha had recommended a series of reforms in the BCCI and one of them was that there should be a cooling off period of three years for a board official after having served a fixed term.
