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Two judges resign from Bombay high court

Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Bombay

The Bombay high court has been rocked by the sudden resignations of Justices Y S Jahagirdar and A Y Sakhare, who on Sunday sent their resignation letters to the President of India, under whose seal judges of the higher courts are appointed.

Legal circles are agog over this development, since the judges, who were appointed on March 10, 1997, had 18 years of service left to go. What has raised eyebrows is that their resignation letters do not state why they are quitting the judiciary.

Supreme Court lawyer Kamini Jaiswal told Rediff On The NeT, "The resignation of judges itself is not a new phenomenon. But what surprised me is the manner in which they submitted their resignation. They have not mentioned the reason... The ones who resigned earlier, as far as I can remember, stated why they were resigning. "

Justice Jahagirdar was one of the judges along with Bombay high court Chief Justice M B Shah, hearing a case against Maharashtra Chief Minister Manohar Joshi's son-in-law. The case arose following allegations made by former advocate general of Maharashtra, Vinod Bobade, that Joshi's son-in-law was involved in the sale of a school plot for commercial purposes. The next hearing was scheduled on November 4, and it is likely that it may be postponed following Justice Jahagirdar's resignation.

Only last week, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray had stated that Joshi would have to resign if the court indicted his son-in-law in the case.

Asked whether political pressure was why Justice Jahagirdar resigned, Chief Justice M B Shah told Rediff On The NeT, "Both the judges did not mention any reason in their letters as to why they are resigning. So I cannot comment on it."

Bombay high court lawyer M A Rane, however, disagreed with the notion that Justice Jahagirdar resigned because of political reasons. "I don't think junior judges handle cases which are of great political importance."

The first judge to resign was Justice H R Gokhale of the Bombay high court, who stated in public that he was quitting because of low salary in which he could not make his ends meet.

"But after his resignation, when he became law minister in the Indira Gandhi government during the Emergency, he did nothing to improve the salaries of judges," recalled Rane.

Lawyer Shanti Bhushan does not think low remuneration is a valid reason anymore for judges to resign. According to him, a high court judge gets a monthly salary of Rs 25,000, besides a fully furnished house, a chauffeur driven car with unlimited petrol, dearness allowance and leave travel concession by air or first class air-conditioned train.

"I don't think judges are underpaid today. Their salary structure has certainly improved compared to earlier years. So I feel the reason for these resignations lies elsewhere," he added.

There have also been instances when judges have resigned following a head-on tussle with the executive, like Justice O N Vohra who resigned after his differences with Indira Gandhi, and Justice M L Verma who resigned following dissatisfaction over the judiciary's functioning.

"I would not like to go into details about my past and give reasons why I resigned. But I would like to mention that there are certain situations when you cannot reveal the truth and at the same time you cannot lie. So, it is good that you keep quiet and simply walk out," Justice Verma told Rediff On The NeT over the telephone from New Delhi.

In the present case, legal sources also mention the likelihood of delay in the judges' confirmation. "Both are additional judges. Their appointment period is for two years, so there is all probability that they resigned because they knew they are not going to be continued as judges," says Jaiswal.

Constitutional expert Nani Palkhivala, meanwhile, has described the two judges as "men of principles" upholding the principles of the judiciary.

Palkhivala told UNI that "sending the resignation to the President is the only way a judge could resign". The President appoints a judge and the resignation has to be directed to him, he said.

Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Y V Chandrachud said Article 217 of the Constitution enables sitting judges of the 18 high courts of the country to resign directly by sending a resignation letter to the President.

"The President, being the head of the Constitution, has to accept the resignation," he said, adding, "Once the letter is sent it has to be accepted."

Interestingly, the judges' resignation comes at a time when the Supreme Court is hearing the Presidential reference on the appointment and transfer of judges.

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