Slamming the reported decision of the Kerala High Court collegium to recommend elevation of a few lawyers related to sitting High Court judges as members of the Bench, Justice B. Kemal Pasha on Thursday said that to pick and choose some persons ‘who are not at all competent’ will result in fingers being pointed at the system.
Mr. Pasha, who laid down office on Thursday, was speaking at a send-off given to him by the High Court in a full court reference.
“If the names given by the media are correct, I can very well say that most of the judges of this Court, including me, have no good fortune to see even the faces of some of those persons. Is it good for the judiciary?” he asked. “Appointment of judges is not a family property of someone to be partitioned. I do not believe that judgeship should be allotted to each and every religion, caste or sub-caste,” he said.
“A judge is being considered as a minister of this temple of justice. The duty to impart justice is nothing but a divine function. When persons who have to perform divine functions are to be selected, they should have the capacity for it,” Mr. Pasha said.
The High Court had recently dismissed a writ petition seeking to declare the reported recommendations of the collegium null and void. The petitioners had alleged that five lawyers reportedly recommended by the collegium were the kith and kin of former and sitting judges of the Kerala High Court and a judge of the Supreme Court.
He recalled the words of former Chief Justices of India S.H. Kapadia and T.S. Thakur that any judge shall not accept any salaried job under the government at least for a cooling period of three years from his/her retirement. Mr. Pasha added that when a judge was expecting a post-retirement job from the government, normally he/she would be compelled not to invite the displeasure of the government, at least in the year of his/her retirement.
‘‘What is alarming me today is that the great glory achieved by this Court in the past decades by the hard work of the judges of this Court and this elite Bar had been considerably diminished a lot due to some recent incidents [that] happened here. Such a belief is there not only among members of the Bar but also judges past and present.’’
