56 former SC/HC judges come out against attempt to remove Madras HC judge

Taking strong exception to opposition MPs’ notice for a motion to remove Justice GR Swaminathan for his judgment in the Tirupparankundram Deepam case, a group of 56 former judges of the Supreme Court and 14 high courts on Friday urged MPs to ensure that it’s nipped in the bud.

In a ‘Statement of Solidarity and Call to Protect Independence of Judiciary’, the former judges, including former SC judges — Justice Adarsh Goel and Justice Hemant Gupta — called upon MPs across party lines, members of the Bar, civil society, and citizens at large — to unequivocally denounce the move.

“This is a brazen attempt to browbeat judges who do not fall in line with the ideological and political expectations of a particular section of society. If such an attempt is permitted to proceed, it would cut at the very roots of our democracy and the independence of the judiciary,” the statement read.

More than 100 opposition MPs from Lok Sabha on Tuesday submitted to Speaker Om Birla a notice to move a motion for removal of Justice Swaminathan, who has been criticised by the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government for his order allowing lighting of a traditional lamp at a stone pillar near a dargah, atop a hillock in the state.

“Judges must remain answerable to their oath and to the Constitution of India, not to partisan political pressures or ideological intimidation,” the former judges, including five former high court chief justices, said.

“Even if the reasons mentioned by the signatory Member(s) of Parliament are taken at face value, they are wholly inadequate to justify resorting to such a rare, exceptional and serious constitutional measure as impeachment,” they said.

“It may be recalled that even during the dark period of the Emergency, the then government adopted various mechanisms including supersessions to penalise judges who refused to “toe the line”. The supersession of three senior-most judges of the Supreme Court after the decision in Kesavananda Bharati, the sidelining of Justice HR Khanna after his famous dissent in ADM Jabalpur, are sobering reminders of how political overreach can damage judicial independence. Despite these onslaughts, our judiciary has stood the test of the time and withstood all external pressures,” the statement read.

Noting that the present move was not an isolated aberration, the former judges said, “It fits into a clear and deeply troubling pattern in our recent constitutional history, where sections of the political class have sought to discredit and intimidate the higher judiciary whenever outcomes do not align with their interests.

“The unprecedented bid in 2018 to initiate impeachment proceedings against then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, the sustained campaigns of vilification directed at Chief Justices Ranjan Gogoi, SA Bobde and DY Chandrachud while they were in office, and the targeted attacks now being mounted against the incumbent CJI, Justice Surya Kant, whenever a judgment/remark displeases a political constituency, are all manifestations of the same trend. This is not principled, reasoned criticism of judicial decisions; it is an attempt to weaponise impeachment and public calumny as instruments of pressure — a practice that strikes at the heart of judicial independence and the basic norms of constitutional democracy,” they said.

Underlining that the very purpose of the impeachment mechanism is to uphold the integrity of the judiciary, not to convert it into a tool of arm-twisting, signalling and retaliation, they said, “To wield the threat of removal as a means of compelling judges to conform to political expectations is to turn a constitutional safeguard into an instrument of intimidation. Such an approach is anti-democratic, anti-constitutional, and an anathema to the rule of law.”

The former judges said, “The present attempt to impeach a sitting High Court judge for discharging his judicial duty is, therefore, not an isolated episode but part of a continuing assault on the dignity and independence of the judicial institution itself.

“Today, the target may be one judge; tomorrow, it will be the institution as a whole,” they cautioned.

“The message from all constitutional stakeholders must be clear and firm: in a Republic governed by the rule of law, judgments are tested by appeals and legal critique, and not by threats of impeachment for political non-conformity,” the statement read.

The former high court chief justices signatories to the statement are: Justice Anil Deo Singh, Justice Narasimha Reddy, Justice PB Bajanthri, Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice Permod Kohli.