Vice-President questions involvement of CJI in executive appointments

Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday asked how the Chief Justice of India can be involved in executive appointments such as that of the CBI director as the V-P questioned the legal rationale behind it.

Speaking at the National Judicial Academy in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal, Mr. Dhankhar said, “How can in a country like ours or in any democracy, by statutory prescription, Chief Justice of India participates in the selection of the CBI director! Can there be any legal rationale for it? I can appreciate that the Statutory prescription took shape because the executive of the day has yielded to a judicial verdict. But time has come to revisit. This surely does not merge with democracy.”

Talking about separation of powers, the Vice-President said that the executive governance by a judicial decree is a “Constitutional paradox”.