Retired judges not willing to take up Gujarat snooping probe

NEW DELHI: There is great discomfiture at the top level of Congress over the government’s inability to appoint a judge to head the inquiry into the Gujarat snooping episode, even a month after the Union Cabinet cleared the politically-controversial move.

ET has learnt that at least four retired judges refused to take up the job, citing political ramifications of the said inquiry. One judge changed his mind after committing to head the commission that was approved by the Cabinet on December 26.

Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde disagreed that judges had refused to take up the assignment. “This (appointing the judge) is the job of the legal department (Law Ministry). The moment they send us a name, we will notify the inquiry commission,” Shinde told ET.




A top law ministry functionary said Shinde was right and Law Minister Kapil Sibal was the one who has to finalise a judge. “The Law Ministry did propose some names. But a judge also has to agree. It is not an individual decision (of the ministry),” the law ministry functionary said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

One of the judges who refused to take up the assignment explained to ET that the commission was essentially aimed at finding the role of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in the alleged snooping of a woman by the Gujarat Police. “No retired judge wants to be identified with a particular ideology or political party…after a stellar career in which nobody accused you of any allegiance, why should a judge take up such a political assignment? This is a sentiment that many exjudges have regarding this commission,” the ex-judge told ET.

At the highest level in Congress, questions are now being raised over the entire purpose of the appointment of the commission and why it was not ordered along with a judge’s name when the allegations first surfaced.

“It is a loss of face…the plan to order a central inquiry was perhaps not a well-thought out one. Modi has ended up earning sympathy as BJP projected it as a poll gimmick and no judge is now ready to take up the assignment,” a party leader said.

A three-month deadline to complete the inquiry was proposed when the Cabinet decided on the commission last month, apparently to ensure the report was in before the general elections.

But the delay in appointing a judge means that the inquiry ordered by Gujarat (in last November) will be complete much before, by Februaryend, with the Centre anticipating a clean chit from the Gujarat’s inquiry committee to Modi as well as his righthand man, Amit Shah.

The Law Ministry functionary quoted earlier said the Cabinet had also raised the bar by setting parameters that only a retired apex court judge or retired chief justice of a high court would head the commission. The Commissions for Inquiry Act, 1952, has no such parameters.

“But since the Gujarat government has already set up inquiry under a retired high court judge, Sugnya K Bhatt, the Centre wished to set higher standards for the central inquiry commission. That has also narrowed down the choices as many retired Supreme Court or former chief justices of high courts are busy in other work,” the law ministry functionary said. However, judges being evasive to head the commission remain the real reason.