Revision as of 21:10, 11 April 2017

Brief biography

Dhananjay Mahapatra, Ex-judges: Karnan a loner with no qualms targeting Dalit colleagues, Mar 18 2017: The Times of India

Chinnaswamy Swaminathan Karnan, who is giving a migraine to the top judicial brains, was appointed as a judge of the Madras high court in March 2009.

TOI spoke to a host of former judges who were members of the SC collegium, headed by the then CJI K G Balakrishnan, at the time, but none had any recollection of Karnan's traits.

“It was eight long years ago. As collegium members, we must have selected over 100 people for appointment as judges,“ said one of the judges.“We mostly go by the recommendations of the HC collegium comprising the chief justice and the two most senior judges. Before approving the recommendation, we do take the opinion of SC judges who were associated with the HC to which the appointment is recommended,“ the judge added, an opinion echoed by others.

TOI also spoke to two former SC judges who were associated in the past with the Madras HC, and whose opinion was sought by the SC collegium. They too said memory failed them on Karnan. But the then members of the SC collegium recalled that the Madras HC collegium -which at the time comprised the then chief justice A K Ganguly and justice P K Misra and justice S J Mukhopadhaya -had sent the proposal for Karnan's appointment as a judge.

However, the selection of Karnan, who now throws up his Dalit background to attack the judges by accusing them of victimising him, by the HC collegium came as no surprise for many who started their career from the Madras HC and ended up as CJIs or SC judges.“There is an unwritten convention in the Madras HC collegium to give opportunities to advocates from the Dalit category to become judges despite the fact that there is no reservation in such appointments,“ said a judge.

The SC judges and CJIs, who were made aware of Justice Karnan's activities and mindset after he started throwing tantrums every now and then, told TOI that he suffered from a persecution complex. “He always felt that he was being targeted because of his Dalit background and attacked his colleague judges for this. At the same time, he did not spare other judges who belonged to the Dalit community,“ said another judge.

Justice Karnan was described as a loner who didn't interact much with his colleagues. The judges TOI spoke to were unanimous that it is very difficult to rein in an HC judge who decides to go the way Justice Karnan has. Karnan's repeated allegations and threats against colleague judges and the chief justices of Madras HC had led to his transfer to the Calcutta HC.But the transfer appears to have had the opposite impact, with his allegations growing more sulphuric. Justice Karnan is due to retire in less than three months, on June 11.

Despite being divested of judicial and administrative powers by a CJI-headed sevenjudge bench that has issued bailable arrest warrants against him for defying summons in the contempt of court proceedings drawn against him, Karnan has passed an order against the judges for ruining his reputation, seeking Rs 14 crore as damages.

See also

Judiciary, superior: India