Collegium decisions unanimous, says ex-CJI Chandrachud

Former CJI Chandrachud says collegium decisions were unanimous and Kaul endorsed all recommendations, disputing memoir claims of government deference.

Former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud has responded to former Supreme Court judge Sanjay Kishan Kaul’s account of their interactions over judicial appointments, saying collegium decisions were unanimous and Justice Kaul had endorsed every recommendation.

Justice Chandrachud said it would be difficult for him to comment in detail on Kaul’s account in his forthcoming memoir, “Without Fear or Favour”, as he had not yet read the book. “Unless I read his observations and understand the context in which they were made, I would not be in a position to offer a detailed response,” he said.

Justice Chandrachud, however, added that the collegium’s official records showed that its resolutions, along with the reasons for its recommendations, were made public on the Supreme Court’s website and that the decisions were unanimous, with Justice Kaul endorsing every recommendation.

The former CJI further said there was not a single instance of Justice Kaul recording a dissent when the collegium formally proposed candidates to the government for appointment as judges. He said this was an important part of the record to consider while assessing the decision-making process.

He also emphasised that collegium decisions were not arrived at abruptly during meetings. “Judges held multiple rounds of informal and formal discussions before names were officially considered and recommendations sent to the government,” he said, adding that Justice Kaul had never walked out of any such meeting. According to Justice Chandrachud, the meetings were conducted in a congenial atmosphere.

Justice Kaul, in his memoir, has said the former CJI was “too deferential to the government”. He has argued that discussions with the executive should not amount to seeking the government’s approval before the collegium has formally deliberated on a candidate.

One of his most revealing accounts concerns a candidate from a minority faith whose elevation was questioned by the government. According to Justice Kaul, the government first raised the question of whether the Supreme Court needed additional representation from that faith, despite the candidate being from a state under-represented on the court. A further query concerned the caste to which the candidate’s family had belonged before converting to the faith.

The former top court judge found the question irrelevant and the reasoning troubling. He says he told Justice Chandrachud that if appointments were to be made on such considerations, the government might as well appoint judges itself. He then shut the file and walked out of the collegium meeting. The meeting was adjourned, and the government eventually relented.

Justice Kaul retired as judge of the Supreme Court in December 2023. He was part of the collegium and authored several important judgments since his elevation to the top court on February 17, 2017. Prior to this, he also served as chief justices of the high courts of Punjab & Haryana and Madras.