Are you fit enough to be a judge?

lucky enough to see the end of it during their life time. Many bequeath litigation to their progeny as their only legacy.

Judges have the power of life and death over citizens of this country. Those who have occasion to go to the courts, and there are many, have a vested interest in a clean judiciary. They go with the hope and expectation that justice will be done. The least that they expect from the system is an honest judge, who will do justice according to law and his/her conscience. Their hopes have been belied.

There was a time when we as a nation could wish away the problem by pretending that the problem exists only at the lower level and that all was well at the higher levels. We are now forced to bury that illusion. Documented instances of corruption at higher levels of the judiciary must force us to acknowledge that we are fast approaching a stage when the entire judiciary of the country will stand condemned as an institution which has ceased to serve its justice-dispensing function.

Justice K. Veeraswami, the sitting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, has been accused of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act way back in 1976.

He was found in possession of assets disproportionate to his income. The prosecution is still going on. After Veerasamami, it could no longer be said that Judges of the High Court were above reproach. Justice V. Ramaswami, a sitting Judge of the Supreme Court, was found guilty by a committee of enquiry constituted under the Judges Enquiry Act of misconduct, for having spent huge amounts of public money on his personal comforts and expenses, for which he was impeached.

After V. Ramaswami, it could no longer be said that Judges of the Supreme Court were above reproach. So rampant is the public perception of lack of confidence in the judiciary that every unsuccessful litigant is willing to believe that the judge must have been "approached". Whether or not he was is irrelevant, what is important is that a stage has come when people have lost confidence in the honesty of judges.

It is in this context that the current Punchhi affair must be viewed. Serious allegations have been made against him by a group of lawyers, including this writer. In a representation made to the President, he has been asked to initiate an investigation into the allegations. The representation was forwarded to the Chief Justice for necessary action. This was the only legal course open to those who made the allegation and the most discrete one. And I am reminded of the words of Justice Verma in the Hawala case "Be you ever so high, the law is above you". If the allegations make out a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the Judge in question must be prosecuted.

Objections have been raised that some of the allegation are stale. Why now, they ask, at a time when Justice Punchhi is so close to occupying the seat of the Chief Justice of the country? The answer is clear: no person has a birth right to be the Chief Justice of India. Ordinarily, the seniormost person does become the Chief Justice, "if considered fit" to hold the office. The Supreme Court of India so held in the SCAORA case. The proposal is initiated by the outgoing Chief Justice. If there is any doubt about the fitness of the Chief Justice to hold office, the Chief Justice must consult with other judges. And this is the second justification for sending the representation to the Chief Justice, who in turn would consult his brother judges to look into the allegations. In answer to the question, why bring up issues which are eight years old, it must be said that "fitness" is a thing that you labour for over a lifetime. There can be no cut off date before and after which you are fit or not fit to occupy the highest judicial office in the land.