Nothing Wrong In PM Modi's Visit To My Residence For Ganpati Puja: CJI Chandrachud

New Delhi: Addressing controversy over Prime Minister Narendra Modi 's visit to his residence for Ganpati prayers, Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud on Monday said re was "thing wrong" in it and underscored need for a "sense of maturity in political sphere" on such issues.

Following PM's visit to CJI residence, opposition parties led by Congress and a section of lawyers had raised concerns over propriety and separation of powers between judiciary and executive. BJP , on or hand, dismissed criticism as unwarranted and said it was a "part of our culture".

Speaking at an event organised by Indian Express, CJI Chandrachud said one has to respect that dialogue between judiciary and executive takes place as a part of robust inter-institutional mechanism and separation of powers does t mean two will t meet.

" separation of powers concept does t postulate that judiciary and executive are antagonist in sense y will t meet or t eng in a reasoned dialogue. In states, re is a protocol of chief justice and administrative committee of high court meeting chief minister and on chief minister meeting chief justice at ir residence. In most of se meetings, you are discussing basic issues like budgeting, infrastructure, techlogy, etc," he said.

On prime minister's visit, CJI shared, " PM visited my residence for Ganpati puja. I do feel, re is absolutely thing wrong as se are continuing meetings between judiciary and executive even at social level. We meet at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Republic Day , etc. We are in conversation with prime minister and ministers. This conversation does t involve cases which we decide but life and society in general." CJI, who demits office on vember 10, said, "re has to be a sense of maturity in political system to understand this and trust our judges because work we do is evaluated by our written word. Everything we decide is t kept in wraps and is open to scrutiny." He said a robust dialogue taking place between executive and judiciary on administrative side had thing to do with judicial side.

"What separation of powers postulates is that judiciary should t be performing role of executive which is defining policies because power to frame policy belongs to government. Likewise executive does t decide cases. So long we have this in mind. Dialogue has to take place because you are dealing with careers and lives of people in judiciary," he said.

CJI said dialogue between judiciary and executive had thing to do with how cases were decided. "That has been my experience." Even his statement of having prayed to God for a solution to Ayodhya Ram Mandir dispute had attracted considerable clamour.

CJI Chandrachud called himself a "person of faith" who respected all religions equally.

"It is a problem of social media. You must have backdrop of where I was speaking. I visited my vill which is 1.5 hours from Pune. It is predominantly an agricultural community. question which I was asked was that in arena of conflict in court how do you stay calm.

"I said everyone has his own mantra and my mantra (t religious) of life is to spend time on reflection on myself. When I said that I sit before a deity, I am t defensive about fact I am a man of faith. I have my own faith and equally respect all faiths," he said.

"My being a person who professes a particular faith has thing to do with how I will treat people of different faiths who come to me seeking justice. Every case is decided in accordance with law and constitution. If someone's faith gives a sense of calm and degree of objectivity to look beyond conflict so be it and that people must accept. fact that you belong to a particular faith has thing to do with your ability to do justice to people of different faith," he said.

His statement had come while addressing residents of his native Kanhersar Vill in Khed Taluka during a felicitation ceremony, when he said he had prayed to God for a solution to Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute and asserted God will find a way if one has faith.

"Very often we have cases (to adjudicate) but we don't arrive at a solution. Something similar happened during Ayodhya (Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute) which was in front of me for three months. I sat before deity and told him he needs to find a solution," he had said.

"One look at our cause list, would indicate diversity which comes to our court," CJI added.

When asked about his take on presser by four Supreme Court judges in 2018 against ex-CJI Dipak Misra, Chandrachud said re has to be institutional discipline and he believed that re is always a room for a dialogue.

Commenting on CJI-designate Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Chandrachud said he is an objective and calm human being and can smile even in serious conflict.

“ Court is in safe and secure hands post my retirement,” he added.

When asked if he would like to tweak frame of Ganesh Puja picture and include Leader of Opposition (LoP) and judges of apex court, Chandrachud, in a lighter vein, said that he would t include LoP as it was t a selection committee for appointment of Central Vigilance Commissioner or Director of CBI.

"On occasion such as marris, deaths, re are social visits. When my mor died, I had a visit from chief minister of state. se are elementary courtesies. We must understand that judiciary has a sense of maturity. fact is that deals are never cut like se, so trust us. We are t here to cut deals. To cast impute motives on judges is denigrating society," he added.

Responding to a question on delay in hearing on bail plea of former JNU student Umar Khalid in Delhi riots case, CJI Chandrachud said in media a particular case assumes significance and n court is criticized on that particular case.

"After I took over as CJI, I decided to prioritise bail cases as it pertains to personal liberty. It was decided that at least every bench of top court should hear 10 bail cases. Between vember 9, 2022, and vember 1, 2024, 21,000 bail cases were filed in Supreme Court. During this period, 21,358 bail cases have been disposed of.

"As many as 967 Prevention of Money Laundering Act cases were filed during this period and 901 cases have been disposed of. A dozen political cases involving prominent ones, where bail has been granted in recent months. Very often, in media, a certain facet or atmospherics of a case are being made out.

"When a judge applies mind to record of a case, what emerges may be quite different from what is portrayed in media on merits of that particular case. judge applies his mind to concerned cases and n decides case. Speaking for myself, I have granted bail from A to Z ( Arnab Goswami to Zubair) and that's my philosophy," Chandrachud said at event.