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CJI backs collegium, says it hasn’t failed
Govt introduces Bill in Lok Sabha to replace the system with judicial appointments commission
R Sedhuraman
Legal Correspondent

The CJI told the petitioner that there was a distinction between transfer and elevation, indicating that the collegium had only recommended the transfer of Justice Manjunath, who is facing allegations of judicial misconduct, to the HC in Chandigarh.

Sources said the government was reluctant to accept the transfer proposal as by virtue of seniority Justice Manjunath would become acting CJ of the Punjab and Haryana HC.

The SC Bench, which included Justices Kurian Joseph and Rohinton Nariman, dismissed the PIL as it was founded on the wrong premise that the collegium had recommended Justice Manjunath’s elevation. The petitioner had attached newspaper reports on the proposed elevation as well as Press Council Chairman and ex-SC judge Markandey Katju’s version on how a tainted sessions judge of Tamil Nadu was elevated as a HC judge due to political pressure on three successive CJIs – Justices YK Sabharwal, RC Lahoti and KG Balakrishnan – during the tenure of UPA-I at the Centre and the DMK in the state.

CJI Lodha’s remark on the campaign against judiciary has come a day after another blog by Justice Katju on five corrupt judges of the Allahabad HC. He said as the Chief Justice of the HC, he had complained against them to the then CJI Lahoti, who merely transferred some of them after verifying the charges by tapping their telephone conversations.

Justice Katju posted another statement on his blog today, claiming that he had sounded fellow SC judge Kapadia, who was then part of the collegium headed by CJI Balakrishnan, about the “bad reputation” of Karnataka HC CJI PD Dinakaran, whose name was being considered for elevation to the SC. Despite this, the SC collegium recommended Justice Dinakaran’s elevation, he said. Justice Dinakaran, however, resigned as the CJ of Sikkim HC following Parliament’s move to impeach him for his removal. Justice Kapadia retired as CJI.

“We all come from society, which is not perfect,” he pointed out. “Everyone has said the collegium has failed. Today, almost all SC and HC judges are products of this system. If the Collegium has failed, then everything else has also failed,” he said.

Manjunath row: Bid to ‘defame’ judiciary

* CJI RM Lodha has denied that the SC collegium had recommended the elevation of Karnataka High Court judge KL Manjunath as Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana HC.

* He said such reports were part of a “misleading campaign” to defame the judiciary.

Katju fires salvo at Kapadia

Justice Katju on Monday claimed that he had sounded fellow SC judge Kapadia, who was then part of the collegium headed by CJI Balakrishnan, about the “bad reputation” of Karnataka HC CJI PD Dinakaran, whose name was being considered for elevation to the SC. The collegium still recommended Dinakaran’s elevation, he said.

Replace collegium system: Ganguly

Former SC judge Ashok Kumar Ganguly said the collegium system had "defeated its purpose". "In my opinion, the collegium system is not working well, an alternative system should be found out." PTI