TV
Former Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud is known for delivering several landmark judgements in the country. In a candid chat during Odisha Television Limited’s (OTV) annual convention ‘Foresight 2025--Changing Times Changing Minds’ in Bhubaneswar, the ex-CJI said that some people thought that the statehood was snatched from the people after the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir despite subsequent formation of government after elections.
“As far as the issue of statehood is concerned, we had asked the Solicitor General and the Attorney General of India during the hearing that now that Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh status are union territories, whether it is permanent or temporary? If temporary, for how long it will remain and when will the statehood would be restored,” said the former CJI.
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He continued, “During argument, Solicitor General of India said that he needed to consult with highest level and after two days he gave an unconditional undertaking to Supreme Court that the position of Government of India is that the restoration of statehood for Jammu and Kashmir is going to be done at an appropriate point of time. We recorded that undertaking of the government and I believe that the issues of Constitutional governance cannot proceed on the basis of mistrust.”
In the political sphere, you proceed either on the basis of trust or mistrust. In the Constitutional sphere when you are told that at a highest level a decision has been taken by the Government of India that restoration of the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir will be made, ‘we accepted that and we don’t see any reason why we should distrust a statement which was solemnly made to the Supreme Court’, said the former CJI.
“You also need to understand that the conditions in Jammu and Kashmir are unlike any other states in India. If all of us are truly committed to the idea of integrity, the oneness and wholeness of our nation as one indestructible nation, we have to understand that peculiar circumstances of a particular state like Jammu and Kashmir. But we have accepted the unconditional undertaking of the Government of India that they will restore the statehood,” said the former CJI DY Chandrachud.
Political Pressure on Judiciary?
It is not, said the former CJI. A sense of responsibility about political consequences, which you decide, every judge has to bear as a consideration as to what is the impact of his decision to the rest of the society. But when you ask that there was some political pressure, the answer is no, the former CJI said at OTV Foresight 2025.
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“Several judgements like the electoral bonds went against the government. This is clear example that judges decide independently, best of the conscience and in accordance with the Constitutional principles,” he added.
