Will BJP govt recommend Congress spokesperson as judge, asks Anant Gadgil

Congress leader Anant Gadgil has asked if the BJP government will ever recommend a spokesperson from his party as a High Court or Supreme Court judge.

A controversy broke out recently with reports of the Supreme Court collegium recommending lawyer and former BJP spokesperson Aarti Sathe for appointment as a judge of the Bombay High Court. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said she resigned from the party in 2023.

Some Congress spokespersons are also eminent lawyers, said Gadgil, himself a party spokesperson, in a statement.

"Will the BJP government recommend a Congress spokesperson as a judge?" he asked.

Referring to landmark SC judgments, such as Anna Mathew vs Supreme Court and Krishnamurthy vs Union of India, Gadgil noted that while the apex court has held that political background alone should not disqualify a candidate from being recommended for a judicial office, ethical implications of appointing a former party spokesperson remain deeply troubling.

To the BJP's counter that Congress governments made such recommendations in the past, Gadgil said no Congress government ever recommended its own spokesperson for a judicial post.

He also pointed out the contradiction in applying "cooling-off" period to retired military and civil service officers who want to enter electoral politics, while allowing recently retired judges to be appointed to parliamentary posts.

"Ever since the Narendra Modi government began appointing retired judges to Parliament without any cooling-off period, a sense of unease has been growing among common citizens," he claimed.

Gadgil wondered if it was acceptable that a person who has been the face of a political party becomes the face of the judiciary.

"Is it morally correct that a person who has been the face of a political party can be the face of the judiciary?" he asked.