When India became a Republic what was Federal Court became Supreme Court. It had Chief Justice of India and seven other Judges. Now it has CJI and 33 other Judges.
Salary of CJI was Rs.10,000/- p.m. and of any other Judge Rs.9,000/-. Now the salary of CJI is Rs.2,80,000/- p.m. and of any other Judge Rs.2,50,000/-.
Over the years Supreme Court has assumed powers it did not have. There is judicial activism/encroachment/overreach/tyranny. Restricting death penalty to rarest of rare cases is one example.
Supreme Court strikes down laws and amends Constitution by its verdicts. It assumed powers to appoint Supreme Court and High Court judges to itself by creation of collegium.
Judicial process should end when it upholds and sentences death sentence. Appeals against rejection of mercy petition should not be entertained by Supreme Court.
Supreme Court allowed public interest litigation in 1979. Many consider it publicity interest litigation, private interest litigation, political interest litigation or proxy interest litigation. Ashish Khetan had accused Prashant Bhushan of running PIL industry.
Curative petition is another invention of the Supreme Court started in 2002 which prolongs judicial process.
Strange is the case of Supreme Court appealing to itself after Delhi High Court ruling in Disclosure of Assets by Supreme Court Judges Case.
There are accusations of corruption. Prashant Bhushan had said of the 16 previous CJIs, 8 were corrupt, 6 were not corrupt and about 2 he did not know. He gave that information in a sealed envelope to Supreme Court.
CJI Ranjan Gogoi was accused of sexual harassment by a woman employee. She had lost her job. A three-judge internal complaints committee did not find substance in her accusation. It dismissed the case on 6/5/2019. As per reports of 22/1/2020 Supreme Court has reinstated that employee. Ranjan Gogoi’s term had ended on 17/11/2019. Justice Sharad Bobde succeeded him as CJI. He was one of the three judges of the committee.
It is not right for Supreme Court judges to sit at night especially after midnight. No situation warrants such a sitting. If a criminal is set to be hanged, so be it. If a Governor has given 15 days to Chief Minister to prove majority, so be it.
