Amid the raging controversy over his derogatory remarks against a particular community, the Supreme Court Collegium has called Justice Shekhar Yadav of the Allahabad High Court for a meeting.
As per sources, the Apex Court Collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and comprising Justice Bhushan Ramakrishna Gavai, Justice Surya Kant, Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice Abhay S Oka as its members, was originally scheduled to meet over the weekend. The meeting was deferred to next week due to the unavailability of two members.
The Collegium is likely to meet on December 17.
Sources said the Collegium intended to satisfy the principle of natural justice by allowing Justice Shekhar Yadav to present his version before taking any action against him over his speech at a public event organised by the Vishwa Hibdu Parishad (VHP) on December 8.
Taking the gravity and sensitivity of the situation, the top court of the country was required to ensure that Bangalore principles of judicial conduct were affirmed.
Adopted in 2002, the Bangalore principles set a standard for ethical conduct of judges.
Further, the Collegium wished to ensure fairness in handling the episode while addressing concerns over judicial impartiality, added the sources.
They said the Collegium was looking at options, ranging from counselling the judge to more concrete measures, such as an in-house probe by a committee of judges, depending on the deliberations.
The sources further said that the Supreme Court administration has already received a transcript of the speech made by Justice Yadav.
The alleged hate speech by Justice Yadav evokes strong reaction from different quarters.
CPI (M) leader and former MP Brinda Karat to CJI Khanna, saying that no litigant could hope for justice in a court in which a member held such a biased and prejudiced publicly-expressed opinion against the minority community and in favour of a majoritarian approach.
On December 13, 55 Opposition MPs in the Rajya Sabha, led by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, gave notice for moving a motion to impeach Justice Yadav, calling his remarks a grave ‘violation’ of judicial ethics.
Noting that such divisive views tarnished the judiciary’s image, Sibal said if the judiciary did not act, it risked being seen as complicit.
The Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) also demanded an in-house inquiry into Justice Yadav’s conduct, alleging that his remarks violated the ‘Restatement of Values of Judicial Life’ adopted by the Supreme Court in 1997.
The CJAR also wrote a letter to CJI Khanna, seeking suspension of Justice Yadav and a time-bound inquiry into his speech.
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