Today, as we observe the 39th anniversary of the ominous Emergency declaration and remember with pain how the world's largest democracy was reduced to a mere 'tin-pot dictatorship,' it looks like we have not yet been saved completely from the tyranny of politicians.
Shri Gopal Subramanium, Senior Advocate of the Hon'ble Supreme Court and former Solicitor General of India, despite having been recommended to be elevated to the Bench of the highest court of the country by a collegium headed by the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India, the executive had sent his name back to the collegium for reconsideration.
That such an action has been taken by the government, which, in a way, is tantamount to contempt of the collegium that selects judges to the top court of the country, and also lack of faith in its initial selection, has to be protested against. Shri Subramanium 'is a sound lawyer with great integrity and will be a tribute to the Supreme Court Bench if he is installed as the judge of the Supreme Court of India,' said one of the most revered judges of the country, Shri Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, former judge of the Supreme Court, in a statement he issued couple of days back calling the Prime Minister's attention to the issue.
Today we hear reports that Shri Subramanium has withdrawn from the race to the prestigious Judgeship. 'It is (a) sad day as the judiciary has been compromised,' he says. He adds that 'in these circumstances' he 'does not consider it consistent with his notions of self-respect to be a judge of the Supreme Court.'
Rather than rallying for support, he has proven his integrity and has also vindicated the decision of the respected collegium for having unanimously selected his name. Had he waited for some more days and had the collegium recommended his name again to the government, it would have been binding on the executive to approve his name. The upholding of one's pristine self-respect at any rate is a lesson that we should learn from the way this great legal luminary has handled the situation.
But, there is a more important lesson for us to learn. In his interview to Shri Bhupendra Chaubey of CNN IBN he expressed wonder that the judiciary did not protest against the government for acting in such manner that compromised its independence. Whilst some days back we saw a large group of lawyers from Tamil Nadu agitating against the 365 day working suggestion put forward by the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India, we see not a single lawyer agitating against this tyranny of the executive. It is for such issues that one should agitate. It is worth the effort. Though Shri Subramanium has made it clear as daylight that his decision to withdraw is 'final and irrevocable' we should not take it as a reason to not register our protest.
I hope that the legal fraternity of our country, forgetting all, if at all any, professional jealousy, come together and mark its protest. I also hope that the students of law come together in this effort. Lastly, I hope that every responsible citizen of India who understands the importance of a free, independent and strong judiciary join. If we do not, we are shamelessly submitting to the tyranny of the worst kind. May on this anniversary of the ominous Emergency every citizen remember, along with his/her rights, the duties which certainly include protecting the prestige of every public institution in the world's largest democracy.
Jai Hind!
