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HomeJudiciaryGoswami hearing to Prashant Bhushan contempt case, Bobde's CJI stint wasn't without...

Goswami hearing to Prashant Bhushan contempt case, Bobde’s CJI stint wasn’t without controversy

SA Bobde retired as India's Chief Justice Friday ending a tenure that was marked by his efforts to make Supreme Court more tech savvy. However, he also stirred many a controversy.

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New Delhi: “I did my best. I don’t know how it came across but I am happy about what I could do,” remarked outgoing Chief Justice of India (CJI) S.A. Bobde on his last day in office Friday.

According to the tradition, CJI Bobde presided over the bench with his successor Justice N.V. Ramana, who, he said, will certainly lead the court ably. Justice Ramana is being sworn in as the next CJI Saturday morning.

Bobde’s 16-month-long tenure — the longest serving in the past eight years since S.H. Kapadia retired as CJI in September 2012 — was marked by an unprecedented crisis in India’s judicial history.

Within four months of his taking over, the judiciary faced a challenging task of continuing with court work when Covid-19 hit the country, triggering a nationwide lockdown on 24 March 2020 and abruptly halting physical hearings.

Always advocating the use of technology for judicial work, CJI Bobde pushed the e-court committee, headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, to take immediate steps to ensure hearings and filing of cases continue in Supreme Court virtually.

He further took steps to integrate Artificial Intelligence in the judicial system and launched two projects — involving AI for translation of SC judgments from English to vernacular languages and its use for judicial research.

At the same time, CJI Bobde’s tenure had its fair share of criticism. From his unusual remarks in some sensitive cases to “arbitrary” listing of matters and his fondness for bike, there were many times when the legal fraternity disapproved of his actions.

Moreover, the collegium under his leadership could not appoint a single judge to the Supreme Court due to difference of opinion amongst its members over some candidates.

CJI Bobde took some pioneering steps in legal education as well. As the chancellor of National Law University in Nagpur, he set-up the Centre for Shastric Studies and Research to teach principles of Indian Ancient Law to analyse legal propositions.

He even persuaded the Bar Council of India to introduce a paper in mediation in law colleges to train upcoming lawyers as mediators.

ThePrint takes a look at Justice Bobde’s tenure as the CJI and the crucial judgments he authored in the Supreme Court.


Also read: CJI Bobde wanted Shah Rukh Khan on Ayodhya mediation panel, SRK was interested too: Lawyer


Controversial remarks, love for bikes

Like his predecessors, Justice Bobde as the CJI also faced questions over listing of cases in the top court.

There was criticism when the Supreme Court, during the Diwali break, heard Republic TV head Arnab Goswami’s petition seeking protection from arrest in a criminal case registered by Mumbai Police, while cases involving constitutional issues remained pending, including a batch of petitions challenging imposition of Article 370 in erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir.

While he discouraged the filing of Article 32 petitions and advised the counsel for detained journalist Siddique Kappan to approach the high court for release, a bench headed by him summoned Vilas Athawale, assistant secretary of the Maharashtra Vidhan Mandal Sachivalaya, for allegedly intimidating Goswami. Athawale had written a letter to Goswami after he approached the top court challenging the state assembly’s breach of privilege notice against him.

Fast-tracking of the contempt petition against activist-cum-lawyer Prashant Bhushan also raised eyebrows, particularly because it was initiated after the advocate tweeted a photograph of CJI Bobde astride a Harley Davidson in Nagpur.

CJI Bobde has been forthright about his enthusiasm for bikes and treats it like a sport. However, the photograph generated controversy because the judge was seen without a mask and at a time when the top court was not functioning physically due to the pandemic. The contempt case eventually resulted in Bhushan’s conviction and a fine or Re 1 was imposed on him.

Some of Justice Bobde’s remarks also created a furore for being anti-women.

While hearing a bail application in a rape case, the judge had asked the petitioner if he was willing to marry the victim. This led women activists to write a letter, asking him to retract his statement. Days later, however, the CJI termed media reports on the matter as incorrect and misleading.

Earlier, in a case related to the farmers’ protest over three contentious laws brought in last year, CJI Bobde’s observation, suggesting women and senior citizens not participate in the protests due to the harsh winter conditions, was termed as an assault on Human Agency and Constitutional Rights.


Also read: Photos of Justice Bobde astride a hunky Harley Davidson reveal different side to India’s CJI


On protecting the environment

An avid wildlife photographer, Justice Bobde’s love for the environment was reflected in his judicial as well as administrative orders.

In January 2020, he directed the top court registry to use A4 size sheets, printed on both sides, for internal communication at all levels. Previously, petitions were prepared on ‘legal size’ papers, bigger than A4 size sheets, and printing was permitted only on one side, raising environmental concerns over large scale wastage of paper in courts.

Another circular on 5 March 2020 made use of A4 size paper compulsory even on the judicial side. This move saved 2,800 trees from felling and conserved around one crore litre water annually.

On the judicial front, CJI Bobde issued several environment-friendly directions, including declining permission to axe trees for development projects.

In a case related to implementation of a government policy mandating public transport vehicles and government fleets to switch to electric vehicles, he sought the appearance of Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari.

A few days before his retirement, a bench led by him directed Rajasthan and Gujarat governments to replace overhead power cables with underground ones to save the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard.


Also read: Under Bobde, pending cases rose in Supreme Court. Now they lie at the next CJI’s door


Turning SC digital savvy

The sudden lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic gave an impetus to the top court’s e-committee to upgrade its e-filing facility and adopt technology for virtual hearing of cases.

The e-filing facility had been in existence at the Supreme Court for nearly a decade, but it was hardly used. It was reintroduced in 2017 by the then CJI J.S. Khehar.

But certain technical inadequacies made the e-filing facility unpopular amongst lawyers.

Given that the Covid-19 pandemic made physical filing impossible, CJI Bobde spearheaded the e-courts committee to develop a “friendly” new e-filing module. The facility was made available round the clock, allowing a lawyer to file a case anytime from anywhere in the country.

Lauding this effort, Attorney General K.K. Venugopal during the virtual farewell function said the CJI “rose to the occasion when Covid hit us”.

For CJI Bobde, the digital hearings gave him a virtual tour of the lawyers’ chambers.

“I can recognise the statue behind the attorney general, the jaguar chair of Vikas Singh (president of Supreme Court Bar Association), Lord Ganesha idol from the solicitor general’s office which is not on his desk today. I could also see the hills behind a few, painting and sculptures and even guns and pistols in the background of some advocates,” he said.

According to advocate Balaji Srinivasan, CJI Bobde’s sense of humour kept tense digital court hearings light-hearted and pleasant. “While hearing an appeal from an electricity tribunal when my opposite counsel said he was ‘shocked’ to hear my statement, the chief said that he expected it in electricity matters.”


Also read: Using AI tools in judicial process can improve justice delivery, but amplify biases: Report


Privacy, Ayodhya, appointment of judges

CJI Bobde’s eight-year-long stint as a Supreme Court judge saw pronouncement of some historic judgments.

As a member of a nine-judge bench, he authored the unanimous verdict that affirmed the Constitution of India guarantees fundamental right to privacy to citizens.

He was also part of a five-judge bench that brought curtains to the decades-old Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute, earmarking the 2.77 acres of disputed land for construction of the Ram temple.

Last month, a bench led by him also upheld the decision of the Tata Sons board in October 2016 to remove its then chairman Cyrus Mistry from office and later the company’s board.

Days before his retirement, another bench headed by him paved the way for high courts to appoint ad-hoc judges to overcome the vacancy crisis. It even laid down an outer deadline for the Centre to clear proposals for high court judges that are sent to it for intelligence bureau (IB) inputs.

Advocate Ardhendumauli Prasad, secretary of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), told ThePrint that under CJI Bobde’s aegis, the top court made an efficient transition to virtual mode. “He pragmatically handled the challenges facing the judiciary and delivered some path-breaking judgments,” he said.

(Edited by Manasa Mohan)


Also read: Supreme Court suggests using ad-hoc judges to fill high court vacancies, tackle pending cases


 

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1 COMMENT

  1. The last few CJI have been vindictive, biased and puppets of the government. The judiciary, in general, seems to have little ethics or spine. So many judgements and diktats which do not make sense, even from a legalistic standpoint. CJI Bobde was no exception and is another person on the big list of committed people who had the opportunity to do right but were scared to do anything meaningful. Rather, such weak people do irreparable loss to the nation. Is it only position, power, status, post-retirement plum postings and head of commissions of enquiry that these people crave for?

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