Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha on Monday defended the collegium system of appointment of judges, and said concerted attempts were being made to tarnish the image of the judiciary in the eyes of the public.
His comments came a day after Justice (Retd.) Markandey Katju blogged that after he complained about corruption by a former Allahabad High Court judge, the then Chief Justice of India, S.H. Kapadia, ordered the tapping of the telephones of the judge’s agents.
Mr. Justice Kapadia, however, denied the charge, and said he could not be expected to do “any unauthorised job”.
Heading a three-judge Bench hearing a writ petition questioning the reported elevation of Karnataka High Court judge K.L. Manjunath as Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Mr. Justice Lodha said, “Media reports about the collegium reiterating its recommendation on Justice Manjunath after the Centre returned it for reconsideration is totally baseless.”
An angry CJI told counsel R.V. Kameshwaran, “You don’t know the distinction between transfer and elevation. We have not recommended Justice Manjunath’s elevation as the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. (Once transferred, he was supposed to be posted as the Acting Chief Justice in view of his seniority). Your entire petition is based on erroneous and non-existent facts. I am the CJI and the collegium, which I head, has not made any such recommendation for elevation. This is a misleading campaign against the judiciary to bring it into disrepute. For God’s sake, don’t bring writ petitions based on non-existent facts. Do you expect us to do judicial functions or to react to media reports?”
The Bench dismissed the petition observing that it was based on erroneous facts.
