The Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud slammed the controversy regarding the Prime minister’s visit to his residence. PM Narendra Modi had gone to the CJI’s residence on the occasion of Ganpati puja last month. The visit was critically analyzed and targeted by a number of individuals and biased media portals. The CJI has slammed the controversy as “unnecessary, unwarranted and illogical”.
On the meetings with chief ministers and other leaders speaking to Live Law, the CJI said, “We do meet but that doesn’t mean that there is some deal cracked. We have to be in dialogue with the Chief Minister (CM) of the State because they will have to provide budgets for the Judiciary. And this budget is not for the judges. If we do not meet and only rely on letters, our work won’t be done. But when we meet, trust me, there’s a great deal of maturity in the political system and in those meetings, never in my experience, would a CM speak about a pending case.”
He also explained that dialogue is necessary between the judiciary and the administration, for the system to function smoothly, “The administrative relationship between the Supreme Court and the Government of the day is distinct from the judicial work done by the apex court. It is a tradition that the CM or the Chief Justice will meet each other on festivals or bereavement.”
Prime Minister’s visit
Speaking specifically about the PM’s visit in an interview to The Times of India, the CJI said that the controversy over the PM Narendra Modi’s visit to his residence for Ganpati puja was “unnecessary, unwarranted and illogical,” CJI D Y Chandrachud also mentioned a tradition, which he got to know about after taking over as Allahabad HC chief justice. According to the Interview, the CJ of Allahabad HC meets the CM after the oath-taking ceremony to discuss infrastructural issues faced by the judiciary. “The second meeting of the CM always takes place at the residence of CJ,” he said.
Raising concerns over the visit, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut had said such interactions between constitutional authorities and political leaders could undermine trust in the judiciary. “The Prime Minister visited the Chief Justice’s residence and they performed aarti together. Our concern is that when the custodians of the Constitution meet with political leaders in this manner, it raises doubts. Our case in Maharashtra, which involves the current government, is being heard before the Chief Justice and the Prime Minister is part of it. We are concerned about whether we will get justice. The Chief Justice should consider recusing himself from this case,” he had said.
Senior advocate and former Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising had also criticised the meeting and wrote on social media, “Chief Justice of India has compromised the separation of powers between the Executive and Judiciary. Lost all confidence in the independence of the CJI. The SCBA must condemn this publicly displayed compromise of independence of the CJI from the Executive.”
Countering the controversy the CJI said “No judge, at least of them CJI or HC chief justice, can remotely invite any threat, actual or perceived, to the independence of the judiciary.” He also assured that though the judiciary and administration meet to function smoothly it does not mean that there are any ‘adjustments’ taking place, “surely we must have the maturity to understand it has no bearing at all on our judicial work.”
“We must understand that one will not ‘adjust’ anything in a meeting viewed by the public. We must accept that there has to be a continuing dialogue, not in terms of the work that we do as judges, not at all. Because, the work that we do as judges, we are completely independent. But in so many ways, there is an intersection between the work of the judiciary and government on the administrative side.” he said.
Response from the BJP
Shehzad Poonawala the spokesperson for the BJP strongly countered the allegations, “Today the statement of the Chief justice of India which has come is a stinging response to those doubting Thomases who unfortunately for the sake of petty politics drag in constitutional institutions and besmirch them by saying that just because Prime Minister visited Ganesh Puja or Ganesh Aarti at residence of CJI, there was a deal struck between them.”
Taking aim at the Congress for its double standards he further added, “When the same CJI attended the Iftar party of Manmohan Singh that time it was secular. This means their problem was with Ganesh Puja and therefore they started abusing and insulting CJI because he invited the PM to Ganesh Aarti. This much hatred they have for Ganesh Aarti and after that they have constantly abused the post of CJI.”
“The British who followed the policy of divide and rule used to hate Ganesh Utsav. Even today, the power-hungry people who want to divide society have problems with Ganesh Utsav,” he said.
The ally of the BJP, Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP, Milind Deora also slammed the critics and said it is unfortunate to see “reckless commentary” on Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the CJI’s residence for Ganapati Aarti. “When verdicts favour them, the opposition praises the Supreme Court’s credibility, but when things don’t go their way, they conveniently claim the judiciary is compromised,” he charged in a post on X.
CJI Chandrachud, who took charge on November 9, 2022, is set to demit office on November 10. Justice Sanjiv Khanna will takeover and have a tenure of a little over six months before he retires on May 13, 2025.