New Delhi, Oct 25: Former Supreme Court judge Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul has accused ex-Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud of being “too deferential to the government” in judicial appointment matters, in a revelation from his forthcoming memoir that has reignited debate over the independence of the judiciary’s collegium system.
In his book “Without Fear or Favour”, Justice Kaul recounts a collegium meeting convened to fill six vacancies in the Supreme Court, during which five names had reportedly already been agreed upon in advance. He writes that Justice Chandrachud then proposed a sixth candidate and appeared inclined to seek the government’s view before proceeding.
“The Chief Justice drew me aside into a separate room and wondered aloud whether he should telephone out to check the government’s view,” Justice Kaul wrote in the memoir, adding that this blurred the line between consultation and what he describes as “pre-approval — seeking the government’s nod before the collegium had even formally deliberated.”
Speaking to news portal The Wire, Justice Kaul, who retired in December 2023, said the collegium must resist executive pressure to safeguard judicial independence. He clarified that he did not believe the then CJI was attempting to please the government, but maintained that the names had been discussed with him beforehand.
The retired judge elaborated that the sixth name was “propped up at the last minute” as he was heading into the collegium meeting. “I said that name is not acceptable to me and will not be acceptable,” he recalled, noting that he warned Chandrachud the other collegium members would also reject it — a prediction he says proved accurate. He added that perhaps approval for the other names, including the sixth, had “already been taken” in some form.
“This has become, unfortunately, a practice of names being discussed in some kind of a previous discussion with the government,” Justice Kaul told senior journalist Karan Thapar, observing that the practice had occurred “before and after” his tenure, which is what troubles him most. He also wrote that when the government introduced the National Judicial Appointments Commission in 2015, a negotiated discussion could have allowed the law to be fine-tuned rather than struck down outright.
Explaining his criticism of the former CJI, Justice Kaul said he had argued that with a two-year tenure, personal merit and public trust, Chandrachud was uniquely placed to break the practice — warning that successors with shorter tenures would struggle to deviate, and the government would grow accustomed to a particular methodology before Supreme Court appointments were made.
The memoir also reveals that differences over handling the executive strained Justice Kaul’s relationship with Justice Chandrachud, under whom he served on the collegium from June 2022.
Meanwhile, the Congress on Sunday seized on the yet-to-be-released book to raise what it called “serious questions regarding the independence of the judiciary under the Modi government”, asserting that the institution entrusted with upholding the Constitution must remain free from pressure from those in power.
Original Source: https://assamtribune.com/ex-cji-chandrachud-weighed-seeking-govt-view-on-judicial-appointments-justice-kaul
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Publish Date: 2026-10-25 17:10:00
