Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad Arvind Bobde, who demitted office on Friday said the Supreme Court failed as a collegium in appointing women judges to SC adding that it’s time that not only more woman judges are appointed, but also for a woman Chief Justice.
“We believe it’s time that not only more woman judges are appointed, but also for a woman CJI. We have also held collegium meetings in which names of women were considered as possible candidates for the SC, but those didn’t result in any appointment. We failed as a collegium on this aspect,” Chief Justice Bobde said in an interview to Times of India.
Last week, CJI Bobde had said that time has come for the country to have its first woman chief justice, while hearing a case related to the appointment of judges. He also came down heavily on derogatory remarks maligning the reputation of judges.
“Social media should have the same standards as the print media. They can’t be making derogatory remarks or statements aimed at maligning the reputation of judges. One change I would like to see is that off the cuff answers, exploratory remarks made by judges about the case should not be reported as views of the judge,” he added.
Justice Bobde was administered oath as 47the CJI in November 2019 and had a tenure of over 17 months. Senior-most Supreme Court judge Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana has been appointed as the next Chief Justice of India.
Justice Bobde dealt with several key matters during his tenure including the historic Ayodhya verdict, Right to Privacy, petitions challenging Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), Tata-Mistry case, protection of Great Indian Bustard, Mahabaleshwar temple issue, appointment of ad-hoc judges in High Courts and ban on firecrackers. A staunch supporter of use of Artificial Intelligence in delivery of justice, Justice Bobde introduced Supreme Court Portal for Assistance in Courts Efficiency for assisting judges with legal research.
He also said that freedom of speech was the most abused right at present. However, he didn’t elaborate. He also said that like any other judicial instrument, public interest litigation was open to misuse.
Justice Bobde also headed the bench which agreed to examine the constitutional validity of CAA and on January 22, 2020 made it clear that the operation of the Act will not be stayed and gave the government four weeks to respond to the pleas challenging the Act. A couple of months later, in March, the CJI led bench had indicated that over 150 petitions challenging CAA would be referred to a Constitution bench but due to the disruption in physical hearing because of the coronavirus pandemic, the matter is yet to be listed for hearing.
Born on April 24, 1956 in Nagpur, Maharashtra, Justice Bobde completed Bachelor of Arts and LLB degrees from Nagpur University. He was enrolled as an advocate of the Bar Council of Maharashtra in 1978. Justice Bobde practised law at the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court with appearances at Bombay before the Principal Seat and before the Supreme Court for over 21 years. He was designated as senior advocate in 1998.
Justice Bobde was elevated to the Bombay High Court on March 29, 2000, as Additional Judge and sworn in as Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court on October 16, 2012. He was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on April 12, 2013.
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