A Bitter Sweet Moment For the Supreme Court

Mixed emotions are rife in the legal fraternity concerning Senior Counsel Indu Malhotra's elevation to the Supreme Court, and the return of Justice K. M. Joseph's nomination. On one hand, Justice Malhotra's elevation has been a welcome change, as she became the 7th woman Judge of the Supreme Court, and the first woman to be elevated to the Court from the Bar. On the other hand, the government returning Justice K. M. Joseph's nomination has been met with an outrage. The outrage culminated in an urgent plea being argued in the Court before a Bench presided over by the CJI. However, one must consider the antecedents of both the nominees.

As an advocate, Justice Indu Malhotra had appeared in matters pertaining to medical and engineering colleges. She also represented statutory bodies of the government in various matters. Most importantly, she was a part of the Vishaka Committee on sexual harassment at the workplace. She was also a part of a ten-member committee created by the Supreme Court to deal with complaints of sexual harassment within the Court. Her elevation certainly reflects the years of work she has done. Apart from her work as an advocate, she also authored books on law, as well as revised books on law written by her father, who was also a Senior Counsel at the Supreme Court. There is no doubt that her elevation is well deserved.

Justice K. M. Joseph, on the other hand, had a long practice as an advocate from 1982. He first began his practice in Delhi taking up Civil and Writ cases. He began his practice in the High Court of Kerala from 1983 onwards. In 2004 he was appointed as a Judge in the Kerala High Court. Ten years later he was appointed the Chief Justice of the High Court of Uttarakhand. His most famous decision was quashing president's rule that had been declared in the state in 2016. After delivering his decision, Justice Joseph sought a transfer to the High Court of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for health reasons. His transfer has not been acted upon yet. Some see this as signs that the government was unhappy with his decision of quashing president's rule. In returning Justice Joseph's elevation nomination, the government has laid bare its displeasure at a Judge who demonstrated that he neither bows to fear nor favour. This act is just another in a long series of infractions and sadly, the outrage will be short-lived until the next controversy emerges.