Impeachment can't be a political tool, says Arun Jaitley

In an open article, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley took on the Congress on the judge Loya death case which he said "almost created a judicial mutiny". He condemned the Congress for attempting to "use" impeachment of CJI as a "political tool" as he observed that it was the first time in history that "national political parties, a few retired judges and some senior lawyers" colluded to generate "falsehood" so much so that they appeared as "conspirators".

Referring to the 114-page judgment in the Judge Loya death case by Justice DY Chandrachud, Jaitley said "the judgment exposes every fact of the conspiracy to generate falsehood as propaganda in the public and political space".

Defending BJP president Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin encounter case, Jaitley said the two witnesses in the case were proved to be lying and Shah was granted bail by the Gujarat High Court which "commented that this was actually a case of no prosecutable evidence".

"It did not matter to Amit Shah as to which Judge heard this flimsy charge against him. Amit Shah was discharged in the case. Some individuals challenged the discharge order before the Mumbai HC and the Supreme Court, which was rejected. Many of them were associated against Shah in the Sohrabuddin case."

Jaitley also attacked the magazine that had raked up the Loya case after a hiatus of three years. He termed the stories and investigations of the publication as a "textbook example of fake news". "It was not gossip or rumour mongering but a deliberately generated fake news where falsehood was manufactured to generate a massive public controversy."

Jaitley castigated such public interest crusader lawyers who had graduated into "institution disruptors" who picked "even false causes" and indulged in "intimidating advocacy". "They have found two strong allies. A section of the media gives them publicity. Simultaneously, we have witnessed the devolution of the Congress from a mainstream party now taking fringe positions. The party, through its lawyers or otherwise, is too willing to identify with these 'Institution Disruptors' and thus intimidation of courts has become the new form of advocacy," Jaitley said.

"The impeachment of a Judge of the Supreme Court is to be done only in the case of either his "incapacity" or on "proven misconduct". The Congress and its friends have started using impeachment as a political tool," said Jaitley. "Trivialising the use of that power is a dangerous event. It is not difficult to collect 50 signatures of Rajya Sabha or 100 signatures of Lok Sabha members even on frivolous issues. To use the power as intimidatory tactics when neither you have a case of 'proven misconduct' or the numbers on your side, is a serious threat to judicial independence."

Apart from this, Jaitley said judicial independence was threatened most by "divided court itself". "Now that the conspiracy of falsehood of the Judge Loya death case stands conclusively established, a few thoughts come to my mind. The four SC judges who held the controversial news conference, are all experienced judges and in my view men of high integrity. Had they checked up the facts of Judge Loya case before commenting on it, even though only on a listing issue? Should anyone at all be commenting on a pending case because many comments created an environment of prejudice and even added credibility to utter falsehood as they did in the present case? Is the impeachment motion filed today a direct result of the press conference? Does this impeachment set a precedent that political parties in India will use impeachment as an instrument to intimidate judges hearing controversial matters?," he asked.