January 13, 2025 03:32 am (IST)
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Gopal Subramanium: CJI criticises Centre
New Delhi, July 1 (IBNS): Chief Justice of India R M Lodha has criticised the Centre over its decision to reject former solicitor general Gopal Subramanium's candidature as Supreme Court judge, media reports said on Tuesday.
"The Chief Justice of India RM Lodha on Tuesday lambasted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government for segregating former Solicitor General and senior lawyer Gopal Subramanium's case from the other three nominees for the appointment as Supreme Court judges," CNN-IBN reported.
Lodha has said the independence of judiciary will not be compromised.
Subramanium recently withdrew his candidature for his appointment as a Supreme Court judge.
Subramamium said that he does not want to become a SC judge as the NDA government has apprehensions that he will not toe their line.
In a letter written by him to Chief Justice of India, in which he withdrew his candidature for appointment as an SC judge, Subramaniam wrote, "I am fully conscious that my independence as a lawyer is causing apprehensions that I will not toe the government line. This factor has been decisive in refusing to appoint me."
"The government has a problem with my independence. I can't go around saying pleasant things about everyone. I am not sworn to criticise the government. If they are doing the right thing, I will tell them so. I have consciously given this up because I want to be in a position where I can give advice and that can be done only as an individual," he told CNN-IBN channel.
This comes after after the government rejected Subramanium even after the Supreme Court Collegium had cleared the names of two senior advocates, that included him, to be appointed as the apex court judges.
Subaramanium also told the channel that he has felt let down by the judiciary as no one raised a voice against the government.
"I am surprised that judiciary did not protest on what is happening. I want to say to the Judiciary, that you must take a stand and likes and dislikes must not be accommodated in the likes of your thinking," he said.
Gopal Subramanium is a Senior Advocate who practices primarily in the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court. He also served as the Solicitor General of India from 2009-2011. He was on the committee with late Justice Verma that came up with the landmark anti-rape law in India after the New Delhi fatal bus gangrape.
He has acted as the Special Public Prosecutor in the prosecution of Ajmal Kasab, the terrorist who carried out attacks on Mumbai in November 2008 and was hanged later.
He was the lead counsel for the Union of India in the matter of Ashoka Kumar Thakur v. Union of India, wherein he defended state-sponsored reservations for Other Backward Classes of persons in India.
He also acted as lead counsel for the Government of India in 2010-2011 in litigation concerning irregularities in allocation of 2G radio-spectrum bandwidth to various private telecom operators.
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