Justice Kurian Joseph: We Held Press Conference After CJI Didn't Pay Heed to Concerns
Justice Kurian Joseph also said that their concerns were not addressed by the then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.
New Delhi, December 1: Former Supreme Court judge Justice Kurian Joseph on Saturday said that everything was not going in right direction, forcing him and justices J Chelameswar, Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Madan Lokur to held the unprecedented press conference in January this year. Justice Kurian Joseph also said that their concerns were not addressed by the then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.
"It was quite clear to all of us at that time that Supreme Court wasn't going in right direction. We pointed out many aspects and brought it to notice of the then Chief Justice of India. Seeing no result, we thought there was no other way than to bring it to public's notice," Justice Joseph told news agency ANI. Speaking on allegations of corruption in the judiciary, he said there is no corruption in the Supreme Court.
"I’ll never really agree that there’s corruption in higher judiciary. If it is in the lower judiciary, its the state's concern. In the higher judiciary, it has not come to my notice," Justice Joseph said. He added that things in the top court have improved. "It will take time. It can’t change on a single day because it’s an institution and what we are standing for is an institutional system and practices should be put in place," he said.
A day after his retirement on November 29, Justice Joseph said that former judges should not take up post-retirement jobs if these are given as “charity” by the government. He said former judges should take post-retirement assignments only when they are “honourably requested” by the government to man tribunals.
Justice Joseph, said he wanted to be a priest, but later abdicated the idea as “it was not in my route”. He also said that in Supreme Court considerable time is wasted on non-issues and the real burning issues which matter to the poor people of the country go to back burner.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 01, 2018 07:53 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).