CM Jagan’s letter to CJI - Mightier than the sword or blatant attempt to smear judiciary?

The Indian judiciary has hit the headlines once again. A constitutional authority has attacked another constitutional authority blatantly and without following any protocol. On October 6, the Andhra Pradesh government, led by Chief Minister Jagan Reddy, wrote to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Mr. S. A. Bobde, complaining about the alleged interventions of the senior-most Supreme Court Judge, Justice N.V. Ramanna, in the proceedings of the Andhra Pradesh High Court to benefit a political party and individuals. The letter has sought the apex court’s intervention to ensure that the High Court maintains neutrality. The letter written by CM Jagan Reddy claims that his government has material evidence to show that Justice N.V. Ramanna had been influencing the proceedings of the High Court.

According to Chief Minister Reddy, the High Court had recently issued orders staying the proceedings of the cabinet sub-committee, the SIT and stay of the investigation and gag order on an FIR filed against the former Advocate General and two daughters of Justice Ramanna. Mr. Reddy has cited instances of Justice N.V. Ramanna’s alleged proximity to former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. Mr. Reddy claims that “the beneficiaries of both the orders of the High Court are politicians belonging to TDP, of which Justice Ramanna was a legal adviser and Additional Advocate General in the past, advising the government run by the TDP, and his closeness to Chandrababu Naidu is well known. This reflects in the nature of orders passed staying investigation, inquiry, and rest at the admission stage itself”.

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This statement is not only laughable but also highly ridiculous. During their careers, lawyers can hold many different constitutional positions, and represent various governments and clients. That does not mean that those lawyers have some “proximity” to the government of the day. It is unprofessional to allege that because a lawyer has represented a government during his legal career, he has a special relationship with that particular political party or the Chief Minister heading the government at that time.

Is Chief Minister Reddy trying to suggest that Justice N.V. Ramanna has been exerting pressure and influencing the Chief Justice of Andhra High Court to decide the judge’s roster in a particular manner? Justice Ramanna was elevated to the Supreme Court in February 2014, and has had nothing to do with the administration of justice in the Andhra Pradesh High Court since then. It is farfetched and preposterous to suggest that Justice Ramanna has been influencing the roster and allocation of assignments of judges of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. Irresponsible statements like these also call into question the integrity of the Chief Justice of Andhra High Court, since it is this constitutional authority who is the master of the roster and controls the allocation of judicial assignments. Chief Minister Reddy is also taking this opportunity to cast aspersions on the integrity of the Chief Justice of Andhra High Court. This is highly scandalous and unethical, and the whole exercise is meant to lower the authority of and belief in the judiciary.

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In his letter, Chief Minister Reddy states that he has true faith in and allegiance to the Constitution. If only this were true. Mr. Reddy would not then have published a letter of such sensitive nature in the public domain. When a person holding a high constitutional office makes such allegations, it becomes even more essential that the matter is dealt with seriously and swiftly. The CJI Mr. Bobde could conduct an enquiry without any issues, since serious allegations have been levelled, but making these allegations public even before the CJI has been able to take any action is nothing but a barefaced attempt to embarrass the judiciary by “disclosing” alleged scandalous allegations. Chief Minister Reddy should have waited for the CJI’s response since he had invoked the CJI’s jurisdiction as the administrative head of the Supreme Court of India. The fact that the Chief Minister did not wait demonstrates that this is a deliberate attempt to scandalise and terrorise the judiciary.

Chief Minister Reddy has aired his letter and complaints at a time when Justice Ramanna is heading the bench hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) to fast track criminal cases against various political leaders from Andhra, including Chief Minister Reddy himself. This fact makes Chief Minister Reddy’s motives and the whole exercise of a public complaint to the Supreme Court questionable. It is also questionable on another ground because all the orders of the Andhra High Court which the CM is talking about have already been challenged in the Supreme Court, and we could easily believe that the CM’s outbursts at this juncture have a hidden agenda.

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Now the ball is in the Chief Justice of India’s court and the CJI Mr. Bobde will undoubtedly have to tread carefully to uphold the dignity and image of the judiciary, since this blatant attack comes from another constitutional authority. It is now for him to take a call on whether to order an in-house enquiry and/or initiate suo moto contempt proceedings against a high constitutional functionary. It is certainly a contempt of court to imply that Justice N.V. Ramanna is so amenable that he is responsible for constituting benches of the Andhra High Court, while 4 also being a judge of the Supreme Court, which would pass favourable orders in matters related to TDP politicians because apparently, Justice Ramanna had been the legal adviser and Additional Advocate General when the TDP was in power.

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The Writer: Rajiv Chavan, is a Senior Advocate & Former President of Advocates’ Association of Western India (2013-2015 & 2015-2018)