The intellectual level of Supreme Court judges- Posted by Justice Markanda Katju

The intellectual level of Supreme Court judges

I think the time has come to tell Indians about the intellectual level and background of most Indian Supreme Court judges.

 While some of them have high intellectual level and character, like Justice Chalameshwar and Justice Nariman, the vast majority of the present Supreme Court Judges are people of very low intellectual level.

 I can say this because I myself was a Supreme Court Judge for about five and a half years, and I was constantly interacting with my colleagues ( the present Supreme Court judges were only High Court judges when I was a Supreme Court judge ). The level of their conversation was usually about cricket or the weather, never on any intellectual subject..

 Not once did I hear any discussion by Supreme Court judges about the theories of jurisprudence, e.g. the historical jurisprudence of Savigny and Sir Henry Maine, natural law, the positivists like Bentham, Austin, Hart and Kelsen,  the sociological jurists like Jhering, Ehrlich, Durkheim, Geny, Roscoe Pound, Frank, Llewelyn , Gray, etc. Probably most Indian Supreme Court judges have not even heard of their names, nor of Justices Holmes, Brandeis, Frankfurter, Douglas or Hugo Black, or of their contributions.

 To be a good judge one of course must know the law and important precedents. But that is not enough. One must also have some knowledge of history, philosophy, economics, political science, literature, etc. I doubt that the Supreme Court judges,( except the two I have mentioned ) have this. In fact I doubt they have even good knowledge of law.

 The present Chief Justice of India, Justice Thakur, in the BCCI case chose to ignore binding precedents that there is broad separation of powers in the Indian Constitution, and it is for the legislature, not the judiciary, to legislate. By acting thus he displayed total lack of judicial discipline, seeking only popular adulation, and  throwing the Constitution and the law to the winds. The number 2 in seniority, Justice Anil Dave openly said that the Bhagavad Gita should be made compulsory in all schools in India, thus violating his oath to uphold the secular Constitution. Justice Gogoi, who is in line to become the Chief Justice of India on the basis of seniority, has shown that he does not know an elementary principle of law, namely that hearsay evidence is not admissible ( see paragraph 16 of his judgment in the Soumya murder case ). I can go on and on about most of the present Supreme Court judges to show how low is their intellectual level, but that is not necessary. Suffice it to say that they have reached their positions not because of merit but only by dint of seniority. Justice Deepak Mishra, in line to become CJI, was appointed a Judge in Orissa High Court at a very young age because of the influence of his relative Justice Ranganath Mishra, former CJI, who was one of the most corrupt judges in India. Justice Ramanna, who is also in line to become CJI, was appointed as  a High Court Judge in Andhra Pradesh at a very young age due to his political connections, and later became Supreme Court Judge not because of merit but purely due to seniority.