The Bombay Lawyers Association (BLA) recently moved the Supreme Court seeking a two-year cooling off period for apex court and high court judges before accepting post-retirement political appointments.
The BLA cited the appointment of former Supreme Court judge Justice S Abdul Nazeer as the governor of Andhra Pradesh on February 12 this year as the reason for filing the case in its plea filed through founder President and advocate Ahmad Mehdi Abdi.
The petition cited several instances of former judges accepting political executive post-retirement offers and stated,
“The acceptance of political appointments by the Judges of this Court and High Courts after retirement without any cooling off period is adversely affecting public perception about independence of judiciary. In more recent times, Chief Justice (since retired) P Sathasivam was appointed as the Governor of Kerala, Justice Ranjan Gogoi (ex-CJI) was nominated to Rajya Sabha and Justice Abdul Nazeer was appointed as the Governor of Andhra Pradesh,” the plea stated.
It sought a declaration that “after retirement, there should be a two-year cooling-off period for Judges of the Supreme Court and High Court from accepting any other political appointment.”
The petition also requested that the Centre impose a condition at the time of appointment requiring judges of the higher courts to wait two years after retirement before accepting political office.
It also urged the Supreme Court to instruct the retiring judges not to accept political appointments during the pendency of the plea.
