SC dismisses plea seeking 'cooling-off period' for retired judges before accepting political appointments

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia said the issue whether a retired judge should accept any office or not has to be left to the "better sense" of the judge. "It is all frivolous," the SC said.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a PIL filed by the Bombay Lawyers Association seeking a direction to fix a 'cooling off period' of two years for retired judges of constitutional courts to take up a political post.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia said it is up to a particular retired judge to take a call on accepting such an appointment.

The court declined to entertain the plea even as advocate Ahmad Mehdi Abdi for the petitioner contended that the practice has to be regulated to prevent a misconception being formed in the minds of the people that a judge accepting any post-retirement sinecure from the government was biased in his decisions during his judicial tenure. 

The court, however, asked him if he was challenging the appointment of retired judges to statutory posts at tribunals.

The counsel said the plea was related to political posts that depended on the discretion of the executive.

The bench said the issue whether a retired judge should accept any office has to be left to the discretion of the judge concerned. The bench also said that whether a law has to be enacted on the issue cannot be a subject matter of the court's directions under Article 32 of the Constitution.

The court also took exception of the petitioner citing the instance of Justice S Abdul Nazeer who was appointed Governor of Andhra Pradesh within months of his retirement as a Supreme Court judge.

The counsel, for his part, claimed the name of the judge was taken as an example to seek a set of guidelines for having two years cooling off period. The plea claimed the acceptance of political appointments by judges of this court and high courts after retirement without any cooling off period was adversely affecting public perception about independence of judiciary.

It referred to cool off period suggested in 2013 by the apex court-mandated panel led by ex-CJI R M Lodha in the BCCI to support its contention.

"Justice Nazeer is the third judge from the five-judge bench that gave the Ayodhya ruling to receive a post-retirement appointment from the government," it said. It also cited the instance of former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, who was nominated to the Rajya Sabha.

"Former CJI has presided over politically sensitive cases (Assam NRC, Sabarimala, Ayodhya, Rafale, etc.) in which the government was a party," it said. Justice Ashok Bhushan, also a member of the five-judge bench in Ayodhya case, was appointed as chairman of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal.