NEW DELHI: A five-judge Supreme Court collegium led by CJI Sanjiv Khanna on Tuesday ticked off Allahabad high court’s Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav for his controversial speech at a VHP event and counselled him to maintain dignity of the constitutional post he holds and exercise caution while delivering public speeches.
The collegium, also comprising four other senior judges – Justices B R Gavai, Surya Kant, Hrishikesh Roy and A S Oka – had on Dec 10 taken note of newspaper reports of Justice Yadav’s Dec 8 speech and sought “details and particulars” of the speech from the HC for examining the issue, which created a stir among activist lawyers and politicians.
Pursuant to the summons, Justice Yadav appeared before the five-judge collegium in Supreme Court on Tuesday and offered to explain the purport, meaning and context of his speech while maintaining that the media selectively quoted from his speech to create an unnecessary controversy.
The collegium, however, was unconvinced with his explanations and ticked him off for the casual manner in which he made certain statements in the speech. The CJI-led collegium told him that conduct, demeanour and speech of a HC or SC judge, being a constitutional post holder, is constantly under scrutiny & hence expected to maintain dignity of the high office.
Moreover, the senior-most judges of the apex court told Justice Yadav that every statement made by a high court judge or a Supreme Court judge, either in the courtroom or outside at a public event, must not only be in sync with the dignity of the office but also not cause damage to the people’s faith in judiciary.
Justice Yadav, appointed an additional judge on Dec 12, 2019 of Allahabad HC and made permanent on March 26, 2021, is scheduled to retire on April 15, 2026. His speech at a VHP event on Dec 8 had reportedly supported UCC and allegedly made remarks targeting the Muslim community.
While SC, through numerous judgments over the last four decades, has repeatedly underlined the need to bring about Uniform Civil Code (UCC), Justice Yadav’s comments against the Muslim community riled several lawyers and politicians.
Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan-led NGO ‘Committee for Judicial Accountability and Reforms’ demanded the apex court to conduct an in-house inquiry against the judge. Fifty-five MPs from the opposition parties have already served a notice in the Rajya Sabha for initiation of removal motion against Justice Yadav.
