The Supreme Court “lost its way” while canceling all coal block allocations, 2 G spectrum licensing and iron ore mining in Karnataka and Goa, and its commitment to protecting the environment, dealt a serious blow to the economy of the country, former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said on Saturday.
Referring to the taking over of the power to appoint judges in higher judiciary by the CJI-led collegium, he also said the Supreme Court should “graciously give up its right to be the sole body to appoint the judges”.
Rohatgi, who was appointed Attorney General for India by the Government of the NDA on June 19, 2014 and remained so until June 18, 2017, made the remarks while delivering a memorial lecture to Prof. N R Madhava Menon on the subject of ‘Travel of the Supreme Court from 1950 to the present.’
The judgments on coal block and 2 G spectrum allocations and the cancelation of iron or mining licenses in Karnataka and Goa were handed down under the previous UPA regime and played a major role in anti-corruption movements in the country against the then government.
Speaking about the current practice of holding hearings via video conferencing during the coronavirus-related health crisis, Rohatgi said that there are some issues with the technological aspect of the program, but they can be strengthened and built on and help to build up the Bar as well. He expressed his happiness at the decision of the apex court to ensure that more benches will hear cases in the coming days.
When thinking about the big judgments handed down by the supreme court after independence, Rohatgi said, “In its zeal to uphold the environment, in its zeal to correct government orders and inactions, the Supreme Court dealt a serious blow to the economy of the nation. One such example is cancelling all allocations of the coal mines across the country.
“Lakhs and crores of foreign investments, lakhs and crores of equipment, infrastructure and lakhs of jobs were thrown overboard when the court set aside and cancelled all the allocations of coal blocks and coal mines, because the government did not follow the law correctly. It should have seen the economic impact.”
He added that the “same thing happened in the 2G case. There was a great loss to the country. Cancelling iron ore mines in Goa and Karnataka is yet another case of such kind. The court should have seen the economic impact before rendering such judgments. The Supreme Court lost its way”.
Expressing his displeasure over the way judges in the Supreme Court, as well as high courts, are appointed, he said under the Constitution, they have to be appointed by the President of India, “which means government of the day since the President is guided by the will of the government”.
“But unfortunately, by a judgement delivered recently (NJAC judgment), the court has not gone on with this principle that the government will appoint the judges and that it will consult the Chief Justice.
“Unfortunately the consultation has rendered to be the concurrence of the Chief Justice which was not meant to be and now the role rests only in the Chief Justice to appoint the judges,” Rohatgi said.
He further added, “The Supreme Court should graciously give up its right to be the sole body to appoint the judges. In no country, judges solely appoint themselves. There should be fresh blood, fresh insight, fresh views so as to find out who are the good judges.”
According to him, the appointments in the Supreme Court should be on merit where seniority might play a part but not that their seniority will outweigh merits.
“In the last 20 years mostly only chief justices of the high courts are appointed to the Supreme Court only because of seniority and very few judges go according to merit and merit alone,” he said.
He also stated that the Supreme Court must have time management in order to reduce the pendency of the cases. It must not allow arguments to continue for days like the current system. Lawyers must understand this, too, as they are primarily guilty.
“Artificial intelligence must also be used to club all kinds of cases together so one case can decide the fate of thousand others,” he added.
While talking about the journey of the Supreme Court since independence, Rohatgi said that the decade of 70s was the “stormiest and most turbulent decade for the country and also for the Constitution and the Supreme Court”.
He listed several important cases after independence, including the case of ADM Jabalpur, the case of Kesavananda Bharati and the case of Goloknath.
Referring to the declaration of an emergency, Rohatgi said that senior judges had been superseded and junior judges had been made CJIs.
The event was organized by Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad, an RSS-related lawyer organisation.
Dubbed the father of modern Indian legal education, Menon died at the age of 84 in May 2019. He was credited with revolutionizing the field of legal education through the establishment of national law schools.