Justice K. Chandru (Retd.)

As the Supreme Court recalls its controversial strictures against Allahabad HC judge, one story is put to rest. However, the repeating issue of overlordism and undignified criticism by higher court judges remains an issue far from resolved, with domino implications on our entire judicial system.

On July 1, CJI B.R. Gavai announced that the SC would adopt a 200-point roster system for appointment of SC and ST candidates. While a remarkable moment, the development comes thirty years after the R.K. Sabharwal decision which first evoked the roster idea, and between no reservations for OBCs, and the Court’s own difficult legacy on reservations in promotions, hurdles remain in realising effective representation in our courts.

Earlier this week, The Leaflet published the full report of the in-house committee on Justice Yashwant Varma, against whom an impeachment motion may be introduced this monsoon. In 1989, Lawyers Collective had relentlessly campaigned for the removal of a sitting Supreme Court judge Justice Ramaswami, alleged of extravagant expenditures and proved misbehaviour. Recalling this crucial episode of our judiciary’s history, and how it ended, provides perspective in these challenging times.

The home minister’s accusation against vice-presidential candidate Justice Sudarshan Reddy should make us reflect deeply on how certain terms have been weaponised to invalidate the lifeworks of public intellectuals, and how the higher judiciary itself has enabled this.

The 130th Constitution Amendment Bill seeks to achieve what was never constitutionally imagined, traps opposition ministers in an absurd cycle of criminalisation and disqualification, and raises the question: if it ever goes through, will our courts be able to do much?

A recent letter to the CJI alleging caste bias by a Madras HC judge must make us reflect carefully on the higher judiciary’s long history of caste feelings and prejudices.

12 years after his retirement, Justice Chandru recalls the many twists and turns that preceded his appointment as a judge of the Madras HC, and what they revealed about the Collegium system’s deepest problems.

The Chief Justice of India’s recent remarks, and a spate of agitations led by the Hindu right against the new UGC Regulations to tackle caste-discrimination in campuses seek to undo our progress towards substantive equality.

With one stroke, working journalists and other workmen in newspaper establishments have lost labour benefits they have enjoyed since 1955, when two protective laws were first legislated to protect their service conditions and rates of wages.