CJI SA Bobde defines what is not conflict of interest

New Delhi: Chief Justice of India SA Bobde has said that a member of a committee was not barred from taking part in committee proceedings because one had a particular disposition, since panel members were not judges. The CJI’s remarks, during a case on whether physical courts should resume work, came amid criticism that all four panel members appointed by the SC to resolve the farmers’ agitation were in favour of the new laws.

“How is this a disqualification? Just because a member has expressed his views, it cannot be disqualification to be a member of a committee. There is a peculiar lack of comprehension about members of a committee. They are not judges,” Bobde said, while responding to a statement by senior advocate Siddharth Luthra that he had earlier favoured virtual courts and was unwilling to be amicus curie on deciding whether physical courts must resume.

“This is a general misunderstanding. Committee members are not judges. They can change their views,” the CJI said, clarifying that his statement was not in the context of this case alone. One of the members of the SC-appointed panel on farm laws, Bhupinder Singh Mann of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, had quit the panel citing his views on the issue expressed earlier.