Justice Chandrachud’s Term as CJI Riddled With Serious Mistakes Says Justice Madan B. Lokur

Justice Chandrachud’s term as CJI was riddled with ‘serious mistakes’: Justice Madan Lokur, former judge of the Supreme Court and presently a judge of the Supreme Court of Fiji, to Karan Thapar for The Wire.

One of the most highly regarded former judges of the Indian Supreme Court, who is presently a judge of the Supreme Court of Fiji, has said Justice Chandrachud’s two year term as the Chief Justice of India was riddled with “serious mistakes”. Justice Madan Lokur identified six or possibly seven, which ranged across Justice Chandrachud’s judgements as Chief Justice, his performance on the administrative side as well as the things he said and did as Chief Justice of India. When it was put to him that his assessment of Justice Chandrachud’s term as CJI suggested that it was riddled with mistakes, Justice Lokur readily and fully agreed.

Rather than go into extensive details, I would prefer you to see the interview and hear Justice Lokur and his analysis and assessment of Justice Chandrachud for yourself. However, let me give you a few brief pointers.

Of the judgements which contained “serious mistakes”, Justice Lokur mentioned the Article 370 judgement, which also covered the demotion of Jammu and Kashmir from a state to a union territory, the electoral bond judgement, the failure to take up the Citizenship Amendment Act and an earlier judgement which we now know Justice Chandrachud authored i.e. the Ayodhya Judgement. In each case Justice Lokur identified critical areas where necessary and required follow up action and decisions were not taken and the failure to take them, he said, amounts to a “serious mistake”. You can get details from watching the interview.

Justice Lokur said the failure to take the required and necessary follow up decision and actions – and there are several instances where this happened – meant Justice Chandrachud “failed to do his full duty”.

Justice Lokur also spoke at length about Justice Chandrachud’s performance on the administrative side. He spoke about how as Master of the Roster cases were allocated to particular benches, how as Head of the Registry cases were not being listed or wrongly listed or sometimes taken away arbitrarily without explanation (in this instance, he spoke at length about the Collegium matter that was taken away from Justice Sanjay Kaul). He also spoke about how as Head of the Judiciary Justice Chandrachud did not always take chief justices into confidence.

Asked if Justice Lokur was disappointed with Justice Chandrachud’s performance on the administrative side, Justice Lokur said “he disappointed definitely.”

Justice Lokur also spoke about how bail has repeatedly been denied to people like Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and the Bhima Koregaon accused. He spoke about how necessary follow up action against the election officer in the Chandigarh case and in the Shinde-Fadnavis-Ajit Pawar government case was not taken.

Justice Lokur spoke critically about the number of lectures and interviews Justice Chandrachud has given, adding that it has set an unfortunate precedent that could lead to consequences that would “not be good” if High Court Chief Justices now start giving interivews.

In a similar vein, Justice Lokur spoke about the Chief Justice inviting the Prime Minister to his home for Aarti or claiming that God has given him the solution to the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhumi dispute.

I will stop there. Justice Lokur has been candid and forthright in his assessment and his comments about Justice Chandrachud and I think it’s only fair that he should be allowed to speak for himself. I do not want to run the risk of misconstruing or wrongly emphasizing what he said through a paraphrase or precis.

What I will add is that I don’t think I have come across any other former highly respected Supreme Court judge commenting so frankly and outspokenly about the tenure of a just-retired Chief Justice. Before he became a judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Lokur was chief justice of the Gauhati High Court and the Andhra Pradesh High Court. Earlier he was a judge of the Delhi High Court. He has also served as Additional Solicitor General.



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