PILs are for the Poor: Justice Ranjan Gogoi

Chief Justice of Indiain-waiting Ranjan Gogoi on Monday said that the Supreme Court is there to take care of everyone’s fears, but drew a line at dealing with PILs (public interest litigations) filed by anybody but the poor.
“PILs are for the poor,” justice Gogoi told activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan who protested against this new definition of PILs. There are a whole line of judgments saying they are not, Bhushan protested.

PILs can be filed by anybody in “public interest”, Bhushan contended. Justice Gogoi, however, brushed off his arguments saying: “The Supreme Court is there to take care of everyone’s fears.”

The CJI-in-waiting’s comments came during a hearing on a PIL filed by retired Admiral Ramdas against the appointment of IPS officer Sharad Kumar as vigilance commissioner in the CVC, which supervises the CBI and deals with all whistle-blowers.

Bhushan argued that the CVC was an integrity institution and hence its “institutional integrity” cannot be compromised. He contended that the government had in its advertisement for the post stated that no one above 62 could apply and then gone on to appoint Kumar.

Justice Gogoi then demanded to know if an age bar was there in the Act.

Bhushan argued that there wasn’t. The advertisement was, however, “arbitrary and discriminatory”, he argued, as several people interested in applying had missed the opportunity to do so.

Gogoi rejected these arguments. He said that the rules were not contrary to the law. Even if the advertisement affected some, why haven’t they challenged it in court, he wanted to know. “Why should we interfere on a PIL?”

Bhushan tried to counter this by claiming that the candidates were afraid of challenging the advertisement as they were government servants who can be “victimised”. Justice Gogoi then said that the top court would take care of any such concerns if they were to knock on its doors before dismissing the petition.

“Let the affected come,” he said. Justice Gogoi, who will be CJI on October 3 after CJI Dipak Misra demits office on October 2, also imposed costs in a few other petitions he said were “frivolous”.

Justice Gogoi’s conservative approach to PILs, which have been a handy tool in agitating quite a few public issues effectively such as pollution in Delhi and unauthorised constructions, etc, will result in a rollback of the court’s judicial activism which has of late caused much unease in the executive.