Fashion for ex-judges to comment on past decisions of Collegium: SC

The Supreme Court on Friday took a dig at retired judges, saying it has become a fashion for them to comment on earlier decisions taken by the Collegium, even though it is the "most transparent institution".

"Let the system, which is functioning well, not be derailed. The Collegium does not work on the basis of some busybody. Let us perform our duties and let the Collegium function according to its duties. We are the most transparent institution," a bench of Justices M R Shah and C T Ravikumar said.

The court was hearing a plea by RTI activist Anjali Bharadwaj against a Delhi High Court's judgement that declined her plea for information on decisions taken by the Collegium in a meeting held on December 12, 2018.

Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Prashant Bhushan said that former SC judge, Justice Madan Lokur, who was part of the Supreme Court's Collegium in 2018, had said that one of the decisions, should have been uploaded on the Supreme Court website.

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"We don't want to comment on what former members (of Collegium) say now. Nowadays, it has become a fashion to comment upon earlier decisions, when they were part of the Collegium. We don't want to say anything on that now," the bench said.

The Collegium headed by then CJI Ranjan Gogoi comprising four senior-most judges, namely, Justices Lokur, A K Sikri, S A Bobde and N V Ramana took certain decisions regarding the appointment of judges. However, details were not uploaded on the website. Subsequently, on January 10, 2019, the Collegium revisited the decisions "in the light of additional materials".

Bhushan contended all correspondences between the Chief Justice and the government and between Chief Justices should be available to the people under the RTI as a fundamental right.

Referring to the RTI Act, he said information here included any material in any form including records, documents, memos, emails, advises, press releases, circulars, orders, etc.

The bench reserved its judgement in the case.