Chidambaram: Higher judiciary over-ambitious

“I think that the higher judiciary is over-ambitious… an ambitious judiciary thinks that all disputes can be solved through litigation,” he said,adding that the judiciary may be under “stress”.

The Home Minister’s speech comes at a time when the Supreme Court has repeatedly,over the past one year,put the government in a tight spot with the quashing of the appointment of P J Thomas to the CVC’s post,to resignation of former telecom minister A Raja in the 2G Spectrum scam and his subsequent arrest and trial through an SC-monitored CBI probe,and also the government inability to bring to book those who have stashed away black money in off-shore accounts.

Despite his criticism of judicial “ambition”,the Home Minister said he did not want to pour oil on an already hot topic,and went on to “congratulate the judiciary,along with many citizens,for its activism”.

“I wonder why more subjects of discussion in India are quickly converted into hot and burning topics. I join in applauding the judicial activism of courts,especially the Supreme Court,in enlarging the ambit of fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution and creating a human rights jurisdiction,” he said.

Delivering the key note address,former Supreme Court judge Kuldeep Singh said the appointment of the Chief Justice of India should be done through a transparent selection process rather than having the senior-most judge succeed by default.

“The appointment of the Chief Justice of India,who is considered to be the most powerful person in the country should be strictly by a pure and simple process of selection and not seniority,” he said.