Chief Justice of India Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud said that it was just a difference in perception when it comes to what Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju said about the Information Bureau’s report that was made public. CJI Chandrachud was speaking at the India Today Conclave 2023, in what is the first such appearance of a sitting Chief Justice of India.
“He has a perception, I have a perception and there’s bound to be a difference in perception. And what’s wrong about having a difference in perceptions? We have to deal with differences in perception even within the judiciary,” said CJI Chandrachud that was received with a thunderous applause from the audience.
“I respect his perception and I am sure he has a great deal of respect for ours as well. The reason we put it on the website was in pursuance of the desire of the present collegium to meet the criticism that we lack transparency and a genuine belief that opening up our processes will foster greater confidence among citizens about the work which we do,” said the Chief Justice.
Minister Kiren Rijiju, who participated at the India Today Conclave 2023 in an earlier session on Day 2, was upset with the way the Supreme Court had chosen to make public the government’s reason behind withholding permission for somebody to become a judge. He said this is between the government and the judiciary, and matters that should have been kept private should not have been made public. The individual in question is lawyer Saurabh Kirpal, who was recommended by the Supreme Court collegium for elevation as a Delhi High Court judge. The Centre had some objections to the appointment after the Information Bureau, tasked with the background checks, came up with adverse reports in 2018 and 2019.
“The candidate that you are referring to – every aspect that was in the Information Bureau’s report was in the public domain. The candidate in question is open about his sexual orientation. We were not opening up the Information Bureau’s sources. All that we said was, in putting it out on the public domain, that the sexual orientation of the candidate has nothing to do with the ability or the constitutional entitlement of the candidate to assume a high constitutional office of the high court judge. That’s all that we said,” he said.
The Chief Justice also said that he aims to completely modernise the Indian judiciary, which is based on the colonial judiciary that was inherited from the British. CJI Chandrachud also said that they are trying to translate all Supreme Court judgments from English to vernacular languages using AI and machine learning so that they can reach out to citizens in a language they follow.
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