In an interview, SAC chief justice Bashir Ahmad Khan speaks about corruption and issues plaguing the higher judiciary.
New Delhi: Justice Bashir Ahmad Khan, chairman of Jammu and Kashmir’s anti-graft body, called the state India’s most corrupt and complained about the toothless nature of the State Accountability Commission (SAC).
Khan was appointed SAC chief in 2015 by former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. The revival of the body was seen as an ‘agenda of alliance’ between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), given their anti-corruption plank in the elections. However, not much changed even after Mufti’s daughter Mehbooba took charge, he said.
Khan, who was in the national capital for the inauguration of new blocks at the Delhi high court, spoke to ThePrint about the state of the commission in J&K and the issues plaguing Indian judiciary.
‘Toothless body’
“I decided to come on board on the assurance that the power and jurisdiction of the SAC would be revived to its former glory as envisioned in 2002 when the Act (Jammu and Kashmir Accountability Commission Act, 2002) was passed,” Khan said.
The former high court judge, a native of Baramulla, said there is no political will in the state as well as the rest of the country to allow efficacy of anti-corruption units.
Khan said there was no point to the commission because of the non-binding nature of its reports. “The state could choose to ignore the report and its findings,” he said.
He further outlined the limited powers of the SAC and said not only were most of the bureaucrats exempt but the jurisdiction of the commission was restricted only to a section of the government officials.
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Suo motu powers
Apart from the limited scope of the commission, Khan lamented the loss of authority to take suo motu cognisance of state’s inaction and irregularities in administration.
In April, the Supreme Court stayed the high court’s judgment which said suo motu powers were deemed to be existing as an inherent power of the commission. Hence, inquiries now could be initiated only after a complaint was filed.
“But who will dare to file complaints against powerful politicians? There is also a matter of proving a complaint, because if the complainant cannot prove his charge then he will be jailed for a year,” the former HC judge said. “This is a deterrent.”
In April, the SAC caused a flutter when it questioned the implementation of Rs 1,800-crore Centrally Sponsored Schemes in the state’s rural development sector. The schemes were allegedly implemented under the MGNREGA, Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana, Swachh Bharat Mission, National Rural Livelihood Mission, Integrated Watershed Management Programme and Rurban Mission. Questions about irregularities in the implementation of the schemes caused major embarrassment to the then PDP-BJP government.
“When we tried to investigate, the suo motu power was taken away,” Khan said.
Judicial appointments
Speaking about the controversies plaguing the top court, Khan spoke for an independent judicial appointment commission. “This must be independent and autonomous,” he said.
The commission should be allocated with powers to lay down a procedure based on which candidates can be chosen. This will take care of the political tussle since most parties in the Centre want to push their own candidates, he said.
The opportunity to create an independent body to choose judges was lost, Khan said, referring to the apex court’s decision in the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) case.
The NJAC was a proposed independent body to replace the two-decade old collegium system comprising the five senior-most judges of the apex court. The NJAC was proposed to be responsible for recommending judges for elevation to the higher judiciary. On 16 October, 2016, a constitution bench of the apex court struck down NJAC and declared it unconstitutional by a 4:1 majority.
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Post-retirement benefits
Khan said the recent appointment of Justice A.K. Goel as chairman of the National Green Tribunal was clumsy as the government acted in haste in announcing the decision. The decision to appoint Goel as NGT chairman, hours after he gave his farewell speech in the lawns of the apex court, drew much criticism.
“The Centre’s move simply proved the allegations being leveled against them by the four judges,” Khan said.
Khan was referring to the January press conference where four senior judges — J. Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B. Lokur and Kurian Joseph — of the top court addressed the nation to air their grievance against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.
Since then, complaints of the executive’s interference in the judiciary have also been made by Chelameswar and Joseph, especially in response to the delay over accepting the collegium’s recommendation to elevate Uttarakhand chief justice K.M. Joseph to the Supreme Court.
“In case you want to favour a judge, give it a pause, what was the hurry,” asked Khan.
Jobs post retirement can be given, he said, but it should be done in accordance to requirements of the body where the judges are being appointed.
The idea of retired judges taking up government postings has evoked much controversy in the past. In 2012, senior BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari, in opposition at the time, had suggested that the clamour for post-retirement jobs was affecting the court’s judgments.
Pointing out BJP’s hypocrisy, Khan said Jaitley must now be questioned on Goel’s appointment.
Khan also said he was in favour of increasing the retirement age, suggesting that a judge’s service and intelligence must not be wasted. “It must be used in an appropriate manner and selections must be made on merit. Longevity has increased and most of them are fit and kicking,” he said.
I was eight years old in Calcutta when a family friend who supplied to government departments all over the country told my father that Kashmir was the most venal state he had to deal with. A similar situation obtains in the north east. Perhaps, where the Indian state feels it is less than entirely welcome, it allows local elites to milk the system, creating a class that has a stake in preserving the status quo.