CJI Gavai (File photo)
NEW DELHI: On his last day in office, CJI Bhushan Ramakrishna Gavai, the second from Dalit community to head the judiciary, said it is worrisome that caste is being weaponised by the socially and economically uplifted among SC/ST communities to corner a major portion of reservation in jobs.CJI Gavai also expressed concern over the spiraling social tendency to indulge in hate speech and said it is for Parliament to debate and, if needed, legislate new norms and mechanisms to curb the phenomenon. Reasonable restrictions on free speech under the Constitution appear inadequate to deal with rampant hate speech on social media. “Personally, I think that some sort of regulatory mechanism needs to be put in place,” the CJI remarked.Speaking to TOI, CJI Gavai said it is high time that Centre and the states sub-categorised SC/ST communities to enable those who continue to be socially, economically and educationally backward among these communities to reap the benefits of quota in govt jobs.As regards the verdict of a seven-judge bench headed by him that had permitted states to sub-categorise castes within SC communities based on socio-economic backwardness and the degree of under-representation in govt jobs, ensuring that the larger pie of quota in jobs went to the most backward, the CJI said that despite criticism from his own community, he strongly feels that the ‘creamy layer’ among SC/ST communities must give way to the deprived among these communities. Asked about the best and worst moments in his tenure as CJI, he said that while the judgment against bulldozer justice was the most satisfying one he had delivered, the way Justice Ujjal Bhuyan criticised his majority view in a recent verdict that overturned the earlier SC verdict on Bills passed by Assemblies marked a low for him. “He could have criticised my decision. But he was personal in his criticism. That left a bad taste,” the CJI said.Asked about the meagre representation of women in Supreme Court, the CJI said this is mainly on account of very few women judges at present finding a place among those in the zone of consideration. “This is because the selection of women judges for HCs picked up late, and I’m sure that in another five years, there will be many women HC judges in the zone of consideration for elevation to the apex court.”Given the option to choose between the Collegium system and one akin to the quashed National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) which was put in place unanimously by Parliament, the CJI said the present system (Collegium) has worked well, especially since the Collegium started interacting with the recommended persons individually to test their suitability.On the pendency of more than five crore cases in trial courts, he said the strength of trial court judges (around 21,000 at present) needs to be increased in a phased yet continuous manner.Among the important judgments penned by him, the series of rulings that strengthened the protection of environment, ecology and forests are closest to his heart. The unanimous verdict in the Presidential Reference, the one for sub-categorisation of SC/STs and the striking down of Tribunal Reforms Act, all of which required long hours of deliberation, too figured among the favourite judgments of CJI Gavai.
