Announcing the New Supreme Court

Exciting things are happening in the Supreme Court of India. I will share two developments which are special and try to predict what we think will follow.

First, the Central Government has increased the post-retirement benefits of Supreme Court judges. Per a report: “According to the Rule 3B of the Supreme Court Judges Rules, a retired CJI is entitled to Rs 25,000 per month during his lifetime. This amount has now been increased to Rs 70,000 per month, as per the Supreme Court Judges(Amendment) Rules 2021 notification.

Similarly, a retired Supreme Court judge was earlier entitled to a lifetime monthly payment of Rs 14,000 which has now been hiked to Rs 39,000 per month.”

I would guess that this is the only instance of public servants taking a pay/benefit hike in the middle of a pandemic anywhere in the world. I expect one of three things to happen.

1. . While hearing a petition demanding that migrant workers be paid wages expeditiously, the Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde had remarked that if migrant workers were getting food in shelter homes, why did they need money. Advocate Prashant Bhushan had to point out that people need money for things other than meals. Nevertheless this instance presented a fascinating insight into the judicial mind of the court. In another instance, the apex court stayed a order of the government of India directing 100% payment of wages to factory workers saying- let workers and factory owners negotiate. Now, it is certain that in view of the above, if the Supreme Court accepts this hike in benefits, it will invite charges of hypocrisy which may adversely affect the majesty of the court. My guess is that there is a chance that the court will tell the government- judges don’t need this hike, they have meals and, in any case, even if hike is needed they will negotiate as and when required.

2. Another possibility and again this is pure speculation- is that the full court will sit suo moto in a matter which could be titled “IN RE : MATTER OF GREAT PUBLIC IMPORTANCE TOUCHING UPON THE INDEPENDENCE OF JUDICIARY” and pass a judgment. saying that now that post-retirement benefits have been hiked, no judge will accept any appointment from the government after their retirement. If this happens it is also likely that the same judgment might say that any retired judge of the supreme court currently enjoying any such appointment will have to resign. There are infinite possibilities of what they could do with their time instead- hold legal aid/awareness camps across the country or teach for free in government colleges.

If you’re worried about retired justice gogoi’s Rajya Sabha work being impacted you can relax. A report in the news website The Wire points to parliamentary records which reveal the number of questions asked, bills introduced (bills here means laws not invoices about which there is no data yet) and special mentions made by retired justice gogoi since his appointment as a Rajya Sabha Member. The number is a grand total of zero.

3. Finally, there is of course the third possibility. The court will say, fine, we accept the hike but only on the condition that we will now hear cases of significant constitutional importance daily now. The challenge to Article 370 abrogation, to the Citizenship Amendment Law, to the constitution bench reference on the National Register of Citizens, Electoral Bonds and many others. This would also be fair.

Before I move to the next development, we ought to give credit where it is due. I often criticize the government of the day but I must note and with deep gratitude that the government has only hiked the retirement benefits of SC judges and the CJI. It could have instead said that to bring greater transparency in the functioning of the judiciary it is introducing judicial bonds- on the lines of electoral bonds. While some political parties rage and rant against ‘foreign money’ to NGOs they don’t mention that foreign companies are allowed to buy electoral bonds and give money to political parties. The government could have allowed foreign companies to access these judicial bonds also. It did not. This is praiseworthy.

Moving to the second development. A five judge bench of the Supreme Court recently observed: “for how many generations will reservations continue”. Yesterday, the court again observed that “This may be a beginning, all res”ervations may go and only EWS may remain. But these are policy matters.” It is likely that anti-judiciary elements will see these observations as an occasion to point out the the total number of dalit Chief Justices that the Supreme Court has ever had is- one. They may also point to the fact that too many judges who get appointed to the Supreme Court happen to be relatives of previous supreme court judges, who happen to be upper caste. This is all a co-incidence of course but that isn’t how anti-judiciary elements will see it.

It is thus likely that the court will declare that in order to demonstrate its bonafide, it will calculate the total number of upper caste judges ever appointed on its benches and then decree that until the day that an equal number of SC/ST judges and Chief Justices are appointed, not even one more upper caste judge will be appointed. That will show these anti-judiciary waalas their place.

Exciting things are happening in the Supreme Court of India. I will share two developments which are special and try to predict what we think will follow.

First, the Central Government has increased the post-retirement benefits of Supreme Court judges. Per a report: “According to the Rule 3B of the Supreme Court Judges Rules, a retired CJI is entitled to Rs 25,000 per month during his lifetime. This amount has now been increased to Rs 70,000 per month, as per the Supreme Court Judges(Amendment) Rules 2021 notification.

Similarly, a retired Supreme Court judge was earlier entitled to a lifetime monthly payment of Rs 14,000 which has now been hiked to Rs 39,000 per month.”

I would guess that this is the only instance of public servants taking a pay/benefit hike in the middle of a pandemic anywhere in the world. I expect one of three things to happen.

1. . While hearing a petition demanding that migrant workers be paid wages expeditiously, the Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde had remarked that if migrant workers were getting food in shelter homes, why did they need money. Advocate Prashant Bhushan had to point out that people need money for things other than meals. Nevertheless this instance presented a fascinating insight into the judicial mind of the court. In another instance, the apex court stayed a order of the government of India directing 100% payment of wages to factory workers saying- let workers and factory owners negotiate. Now, it is certain that in view of the above, if the Supreme Court accepts this hike in benefits, it will invite charges of hypocrisy which may adversely affect the majesty of the court. My guess is that there is a chance that the court will tell the government- judges don’t need this hike, they have meals and, in any case, even if hike is needed they will negotiate as and when required.

2. Another possibility and again this is pure speculation- is that the full court will sit suo moto in a matter which could be titled “IN RE : MATTER OF GREAT PUBLIC IMPORTANCE TOUCHING UPON THE INDEPENDENCE OF JUDICIARY” and pass a judgment. saying that now that post-retirement benefits have been hiked, no judge will accept any appointment from the government after their retirement. If this happens it is also likely that the same judgment might say that any retired judge of the supreme court currently enjoying any such appointment will have to resign. There are infinite possibilities of what they could do with their time instead- hold legal aid/awareness camps across the country or teach for free in government colleges.

If you’re worried about retired justice gogoi’s Rajya Sabha work being impacted you can relax. A report in the news website The Wire points to parliamentary records which reveal the number of questions asked, bills introduced (bills here means laws not invoices about which there is no data yet) and special mentions made by retired justice gogoi since his appointment as a Rajya Sabha Member. The number is a grand total of zero.

3. Finally, there is of course the third possibility. The court will say, fine, we accept the hike but only on the condition that we will now hear cases of significant constitutional importance daily now. The challenge to Article 370 abrogation, to the Citizenship Amendment Law, to the constitution bench reference on the National Register of Citizens, Electoral Bonds and many others. This would also be fair.

Before I move to the next development, we ought to give credit where it is due. I often criticize the government of the day but I must note and with deep gratitude that the government has only hiked the retirement benefits of SC judges and the CJI. It could have instead said that to bring greater transparency in the functioning of the judiciary it is introducing judicial bonds- on the lines of electoral bonds. While some political parties rage and rant against ‘foreign money’ to NGOs they don’t mention that foreign companies are allowed to buy electoral bonds and give money to political parties. The government could have allowed foreign companies to access these judicial bonds also. It did not. This is praiseworthy.

Moving to the second development. A five judge bench of the Supreme Court recently observed: “for how many generations will reservations continue”. Yesterday, the court again observed that “This may be a beginning, all res”ervations may go and only EWS may remain. But these are policy matters.” It is likely that anti-judiciary elements will see these observations as an occasion to point out the the total number of dalit Chief Justices that the Supreme Court has ever had is- one. They may also point to the fact that too many judges who get appointed to the Supreme Court happen to be relatives of previous supreme court judges, who happen to be upper caste. This is all a co-incidence of course but that isn’t how anti-judiciary elements will see it.

It is thus likely that the court will declare that in order to demonstrate its bonafide, it will calculate the total number of upper caste judges ever appointed on its benches and then decree that until the day that an equal number of SC/ST judges and Chief Justices are appointed, not even one more upper caste judge will be appointed. That will show these anti-judiciary waalas their place.