Continuing his battle against the judiciary?s shroud of secrecy, Karnataka High Court judge DV Shylendra Kumar has slammed the collegium. It?s a matter of concern and ?even shame for the members of the judiciary that the collegium of the Supreme Court is blissfully remaining insensitive to public opinion/reaction, but, is only playing GOD by not responding? to the flak it?s drawn from the public, he writes in his blog.
In his blog, the judge, who has been taking on the Chief Justice of India and some of his controversial colleagues, particularly Karnataka High Court Chief Justice PD Dinakaran, says: ?Laymen on the street, or elite and enlightened in their palaces, have all been critical of the manner of functioning of the collegiums in general and the collegium of the Supreme Court in particular! The collegium of the Supreme Court refusing to divulge information has not been taken kindly by the members of the public and this conduct and attitude is looked down with suspicion and as a possible cover up resorted to on the part of the members of the collegium.?
Kumar has also made public his ?open letter? to Dinakaran on March 8 in which he asked the controversial CJ to refrain from discharging administrative functions given the impeachment proceedings against him over allegations of landgrab.
Kumar also raised the issues of etiquette, propriety and morality, and demanded that Dinakaran should not draw full salary and enjoy facilities extended to a regular Chief Justice. ?It is acceptable if he is a normal Chief Justice performing judicial function. But in your case you are not only not performing on the judicial side, but also facing an impeachment move,? he has told the CJ. He has said that people have rejected the CJI?s argument that the collegium?s decisions can?t be made public as this would affect the efficacy of the judicial system.
?While it may be true that to protect the image and the reputation of the institution, the cause of a few judges can be sacrificed, it is the other way now as practised by the collegium. it appears that the information is not being divulged or revealed, only to protect the concerned judges and even possibly to protect themselves, but at the cost of the image and reputation of the institution, as in the eyes of the public by not revealing the information, it is the image and reputation of the institution that is suffering and definitely not the image and reputation of the concerned judges,? he writes.
?It is high time that the collegium starts acting in the interest of the institution and not in the interest of individual judges nor to protect their image and reputation and try to hide or cover up the bad image or the bad reputation of errant judges!?