The BJP’s way to tempt judges to toe the government line while compromising on the much needed independence of the judiciary is borne out in their indecent move to appoint retired Justice S. Abdul Nazeer as a Governor just a month after retirement as Judge of the Supreme Court. Whilst in the Opposition, the BJP had demanded that former judges must not be given post-retirement appointments for at least two years, but once in power have failed to walk that talk.
One such black day was in 2014 when the BJP appointed P. Sathasivam as Governor of Kerala within four months of his retirement as Chief Justice of India which sent out a very wrong message. Ranjan Gogoi on retirement also as the Chief Justice of India in November 2019 was within four months nominated to Rajya Sabha claiming that he would be the voice of judiciary in the Upper House of Parliament. The public will sadly view with suspicion and wonder how much independence truly exists in a system where judges appointed to the highest court land up rewarded with lucrative political appointments shortly after retirement.
