July 17, 2026

Justice Bobde Courts Controversy, Justice Ramana Avoids One

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-04-08 10:33:01

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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

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Outgoing CJI S A Bobde stirred a hornet's nest by calling a meeting of the Supreme Court collegium (comprising of Justices Bobde, N V Ramana, Rohinton F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar and U U Lalit) on Thursday, April 8 against convention which dictates that a lame duck chief justice is not authorized to take such decisions. Since Bobde is to retire on April 23 and Justice Ramana has already been appointed as the next CJI, ideally the decision to call a collegium meeting should have been taken in consultation with him. It has been reported that two other judges were also against the meeting. Although former CJI R M Lodha told the Indian Express that "there is no such convention that the outgoing CJI cannot make recommendations in the fag end of his tenure. It is up to individual CJIs to take their colleagues into confidence," there are other experts who feel it is not correct.

But Justice Bobde might have wanted to correct a big blot on his CV. He is one of the few chief justices in whose term not a single judge was recommended for appointment to the Supreme Court despite 5 vacancies (due mainly to the difference of opinion between him and other members of the collegium). He thought that by calling a collegium meeting and making last minute recommendations, he will be able to set matters right. But in doing so, he has created another blot. The judiciary is not supposed to function in this manner. There are certain conventions that need to be followed. Justice Bobde should have remembered this and should have called the meeting either before he recommended Justice Ramana's name as the next CJI or even before Justice Ramana was appointed. It is being reported that although Justice Bobde scheduled the meeting before Justice Ramana was officially appointed, he did not change his decision even though Justice Ramana's appointment came through before it was held.

The response of Justice Ramana to this oblique challenge to his authority was classic. He took the day off to avoid controversy. It is excellent that the incoming CJI did not make unnecessary comments to create further controversy. As he did not attend court, the meeting fell through. To paraphrase a Hindi adage, the serpent was killed without breaking the stick.