"I, too, became a judge": What my own appointment revealed about the Collegium system’s undemocratic faultlines

MANY HAVE WRITTEN SO FAR on the collegium system of appointment of judges, a system evolved through a judicial coup.  None, however, have written their own account of the appointment. 

In evangelical meetings, at times, certain persons come up to speak about the miracles that occurred to them.  They are known as ‘blood witnesses’.  This, too, is the statement of a blood witness. 

After I got my law degree, I enrolled myself as an Advocate before the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu during July 1976.  After twenty years of practice in the High Court and subordinate courts, in 1997, I was designated as a Senior Advocate by the full court of the Madras High Court. Thus, I had 30 years of practice in all. I was an elected member of the Bar Council for a term of Five years.  I was also an office bearer of the Madras High Court Advocates Association. During my tenure, I had actively participated in human rights movements and had also appeared in a number of human rights violation cases. 

How did I, an advocate, become a judge? This recollection will try to answer that. One may reasonably ask how I came to know about my appointment when the files relating to Collegium recommendations are kept confidential. I wish to write what I know about the truth relating to my appointment. Only then will the true nature of the collegium system be known.

This documentation is informed by information gathered by me in a personal capacity, and also from newspaper articles, from collegium members, and from the Chief Justice. 

By 1996, I had practised as an advocate for 20 years and had also crossed 45 years of age. Justice M. Srinivasan, who was a High Court judge, had a lot of regard and respect for me. He was known for his strictness in court. He had observed the way I practised law and recommended my name to the then Chief Justice K.A. Swamy for appointment as a judge. Justice Srinivasan informed me that the Chief Justice had told him that I was young and that my name can be considered later. Till then, it did not even occur to me that my name would be in the reckoning for a judge’s post. 

It was at that time that my daughter, Sakthi, was born. In order to spend more time with her and reduce my own workload, I realised the only was perhaps to be designated as a senior advocate.  In a November 1997 meeting of all the judges, it was decided to designate me as a senior. I returned all the case bundles I was arguing to the parties concerned and also closed down the large office that I was running. After that, I accepted only senior briefs.   While the close contact that I had with my old clients started waning down, I got the chance to try cases in other fields of law. 

In 1998, Justice Sathiadev, who had retired eight years before, came to Chennai with his wife. When I visited him one evening, he gave me a present. Not knowing what the gift was, I asked him why he had brought a present. He replied that it was his wedding gift to me.

I was shocked and told him, “You are giving me a gift eight years after I got married!” He replied, “You did not invite any judge for your wedding. Now I am an ordinary Sathiadev.” What could one say about his affection?

In the conversation that followed, he told me that I had spent enough time as an advocate and that I should make efforts to become a judge.

“Nobody who knows my political background will make me a judge,” I said.

“I do not know about that, but at some point in future if the post of a judge comes to you, you should not hesitate for even a minute and you should be mentally prepared to accept it without rejecting it,” he said, sternly, “You should give me an assurance about that.”