The Curious Case of a Politician Turned Judge/Political Judge

Artwork By Studio Kaäla

The Indian judiciary is replete with examples of politician lawyers becoming constitutional court judges as well as of Supreme Court and high court judges in the evenings of their lives deciding to jump onto electoral battle tracks. We have often heard discussions about the constant need for a ‘cooling-off’ period before the High Court and Supreme Court enter the political arena, but haven’t seen any changes from the First Judges Case to the Third Judges Case. It seems like the collegium system is here to stay, along with the role which the executives play in the appointment of the judges of the Constitutional Courts.

From the treasure troves of many such constitutional adventures, I bring to you the story of the late Justice Baharul Islam, the first and only retired judge of a high court to be appointed as a Supreme Court judge in the year 1980 by the then Congress Govt. Mr. Islam was registered as an advocate in the year 1951; he joined the Indian National Congress party in the year 1956 and was, thereafter, in the years 1962 & 1968, elected to the Rajya Sabha. He subsequently resigned from the Rajya Sabha to be appointed as a judge of the then Assam and Nagaland High Court (now Gauhati High Court) on 20 January 1972. He was thereafter appointed as an acting chief justice of the High Court in the year 1979 and appointed as a chief justice on 7th July 1979, and retired from the said post on 1st March 1980. Thereafter in a strange turn of events on 4 December 1980, he was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India. Though there was a lot of whirlwind about the purpose of the appointment and a lot of criticism about some of the judgments that were delivered by him in his short tenure, which ended when he resigned from the judgeship on 12 January 1983, only to then contest the upcoming elections from Barpeta, Assam, for the Lok Sabha as a Congress candidate. However, the general elections were held in India on 24, 27, and 28 December 1984, shortly after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Voting in Assam and Punjab was delayed until 1985 due to the ongoing insurgency. And subsequently, he was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha, which marked his third inning as a politician.

This was one of the rarest cases, which shows how much hold the centre has in the appointment of High Court judges and Supreme Court judges and the role of the executive in such appointments, which also was widely discussed when we recently saw the nomination of former Justice Rajan Gogoi to the Rajya Sabha and many other such High Court and Supreme Court judges being appointed as governors, etc., only to gather much more criticism over their actual involvement/participation in the affairs of the Rajya Sabha, etc. Such appointments raise serious questions about pandering by the judges to secure career rewards like post-retirement jobs/appointments to tribunals etc by favourably deciding issues related to the Govt and further raises questions and serious concerns about the independence of the judiciary and dispensation of justice in the country and call for a law where there can be a cooling-off period for such judges or constitutional functionaries to take up such appointments immediately after retirement and eventually restore/strengthen the faith of the common man in the judiciary of the country.