In a special hearing, CJI-led Bench erases HC judge’s comments challenging SC’s ‘superiority’
High Court judge’s livestreamed remarks prompt a five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court to advise restraint and responsibility
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| Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and four senior-most judges of the apex court held a special sitting on Wednesday to expunge the remarks made by a High Court judge challenging the Supreme Court’s position at the top of the judicial hierarchy.
A video capturing the comments by Justice Rajbir Sehrawat of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, in court, was widely circulated on social media, compelling the Chief Justice of India to urge judges to exercise restraint and responsibility while making observations in the course of court proceedings.
The Chief Justice said livestreaming of court sessions was meant to provide citizens access to judicial proceedings, and not for judges to make unwarranted observations, lowering the dignity of the judicial system.
Chief Justice Chandrachud said the apex court had been pained by the observations made by Justice Sehrawat and had decided to take suo motu cognisance of them. The other judges on the Bench were Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B.R. Gavai, Surya Kant, and Hrishikesh Roy.
Although Attorney General R. Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta termed Justice Sehrawat’s observations as “serious transgressions” on judicial discipline, and even “aggravated contempt” of the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice-led Bench decided in favour of restraint.
The Chief Justice said that unlike aberrations such as this, an overwhelming majority of High Court judges worked with greater responsibility and restraint despite the huge workload.
The CJI said his Bench did not want to inadvertently harm the majesty of the High Courts, especially the Punjab and Haryana High Court, by making any comments or issuing notice in this case. Besides, a Division Bench headed by the Punjab and Haryana Chief Justice had already stayed Justice Sehrawat’s controversial order of July 17.
Justice Sehrawat had taken offence to the top court staying an earlier order of his in a case. On July 17, he blamed the apex court for “presuming itself to be more ‘supreme’ than it actually is and the High Court to be less ‘high’ than it constitutionally is”.
“The Supreme Court is not supreme. The High Court is not supreme. What is supreme is the Constitution of India. We all interpret the Constitution the best we can,” Justice Roy said.
The CJI termed Justice Sehrawat’s remarks “gratuitous”. “They affect not only the dignity of the Supreme Court but also of the High Courts as well,” he said.
The Chief Justice highlighted that the system of judicial hierarchy was founded in the Constitution. Article 144 of the Constitution advised civil and judicial authorities to act in aid of the Supreme Court. It was litigants, and not judges, who should be aggrieved by an order of stay by a superior court, the CJI said.
“Whether individual judges are in agreement or otherwise of orders passed by a superior court is besides the point. Every judge is bound by judicial discipline and the hierarchical nature of the judicial system… Judges should employ greater caution while dealing with the orders of the Supreme Court and Division Benches of their High Courts,” Chief Justice Chandrachud observed.
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judiciary (system of justice)