Post-retirement appointment of judges threat to judiciary: Congress

After the appointment of S. Abdul Nazeer as the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, the Congress said on Sunday that 'it was a threat to the judiciary'.

Congress leader and eminent lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi quoted Late Arun Jaitely, former law and Finance minister, who in 2013 had said, "pre-retirement judgements are influenced by post-retirement jobs and its threat to judiciary."

Singhvi said, "We share the same sentiments... it's a threat to the judiciary."

He said, "It is not about any particular person as I know him personally but in principle we are against the appointment of judges post-retirement."

Singhvi said, "The BJP's defence that it had happened earlier also can't be an excuse and the issue remains the same."

Jairam Ramesh, Congress MP and General Secretary in-charge Communications, shared the video clip of Arun Jaitely and said, "Adequate proof of this in the past 3-4 years for sure."

This is the second appointment after Ranjan Gogoi, who headed the Ayodhya bench and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha.

Justice S. Abdul Nazeer, who was part of a five-member Supreme Court Bench in the Ayodhya case, retired in January.

Justice Nazeer led-Constitution Bench had upheld the 2016 demonetisation process. He had also declared that there was no need to impose additional restrictions on the free speech right of ministers, MPs, MLAs and leaders.

Born on January 5, 1958, at Beluvai in Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district, Justice Nazeer enrolled as an advocate on February 18, 1983, after completing his LLB degree from the SDM Law College, Mangaluru.

He practiced before the Karnataka High Court and was appointed as its Additional Judge on May 12, 2003. He became a permanent judge on September 24, 2004 and was elevated to the Supreme Court on February 17, 2017.

Justice Nazeer was part of several landmark constitution bench decisions, which included triple talaq, right to privacy, Ayodhya case, and recently on the Centre's 2016 decision on demonetisation, and free speech of lawmakers.

Justice Nazeer said that "the situation in the Indian judiciary today is not as grim as it used to be though a wrong impression is conveyed due to misinformation".