Yesterday, news broke out that the chief justice of the Uttarakhand High Court, KM Joseph, who was recently in the news for quashing President’s rule, had been transferred to the Andhra Pradesh high court in Hyderabad. This news was spun by some as confirmation of the hold politicians hold over the judiciary. Senior lawyer and legal activist, Indira Jaisingh, who herself is under scrutiny for alleged FCRA violations, tweeted:
Death of independence of judiciary Justice Mathew who authored the Uttaranchal Judgement transferred to AP,what is the explanation for this?
— indira jaising (@IJaising) May 4, 2016
Was our faith in the judiciary misplaced? Why are judges who write judgements against the government at the Center being transferred?
— indira jaising (@IJaising) May 4, 2016
First Justice Shakdar who authored the Priya Pillai judgement was transferred , then Justice Mathew who wrote the Uttaranchal judgement
— indira jaising (@IJaising) May 4, 2016
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, did not waste time and within minutes endorsed here views with his trademark “This is shocking” remark:
This is shocking https://t.co/T7UKGnf78V
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) May 4, 2016
Further, he too raised questions on the Independence of the judiciary:
This raises serious questions abt independence of judiciary https://t.co/G2E18lLmlC
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) May 4, 2016
This perhaps prompted Former Chairman, Press Council of India and Former Judge, Supreme Court of India Markandeya Katju, to enquire on his own as to the details of the transfer. He put his findings out on Facebook:
Through the above post, Katju clarified that his sources had informed him that there was nothing “shocking” in the transfer and it was made only due to medical reasons. Through his subsequent comments, he also clarified that Justice Joseph had himself requested for the transfer and he also gave a clean chit to the CJI:
Further, Katju also went on to slam Kejriwal saying that Kejriwal needs to develop maturity. He further said:
If Kejriwal had consulted me, I would have given him the full facts, but he did not. That is why I suggested that he be made Deputy Prime Minister, not Prime Minister, since presently he lacks maturity and experience, though he is personally honest. It seems that Kejriwal lacks good advisers, and many whom he has chosen seem to be chamchas ( sycophants ). He needs therefore to change many of his advisers. As Kabirdas said, ‘Nindak neerey raakhiye, aangan kuti chavaya ‘. Kejriwal needs nindaks too as his advisers, not just chamchas, if he intends to develop into a mature leader
Katju then even demanded that Kejriwal should apologise for his mistake:
Why does Kejriwal not apologize for his baseless comments about the transfer of Judges, and say he made a mistake. We are all human beings, and we all make mistakes. If he apologizes his image will go up, not down. If he does not, his image will be permanently shattered, and he will be branded as a man who for political mileage will hastily slander and attack anyone without any basis. I am saying this for his own good
He even came down in Indira Jaisingh who had in fact started this rumour and asked her too to apologise
Indira Jaisingh is not a Chief Minister. But she should also apologize. https://t.co/1plVFOoed0
— Markandey Katju (@mkatju) May 5, 2016
