Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, the fiftieth Chief Justice of India (CJI), who retires today on November 10 after precisely two years in the office, leaves a mixed legacy. As one of the critical authors of many landmark judgments, since he joined as a judge in the apex court in 2016 and subsequently as the CJI in 2022, Chandrachud was expected to surpass the legacy of his father, who had the longest innings as CJI. Proclaiming privacy was a fundamental right in the famous Puttaswamy case. Chandrachud even found a judgement delivered by the bench headed by his father, YV Chandrachud, during the Emergency period that held a contrary view as severely flawed.

However, some of Chandrachud’s controversial decisions and actions have grievously blotted his copybook on and off the court. Unsparing critics like senior lawyer Dushyant Dave even called Chandrachud’s tenure quite disappointing given the Harvard Law graduate’s erudition and intelligence. Dr Mohan Gopal, former director of the National Judicial Academy of the Supreme Court, lamented that Chandrachud's many verdicts reinforced the “doctrine of deference” towards the political executive, which is dangerous to democracy. According to Dave, Prime Minister Modi's powerful persona overawed Chandrachud. It hardly augurs well for the Indian Supreme Court, once called one of the world's most potent judicial bodies, that India’s position has been falling steadily in every global index of democracy and human rights during the past decade under the watch of our Chief Justices, including Chandrachud. Except during the Emergency, never had so many prominent human rights activists and political opponents of the central government been incarcerated, denied bail or hunted down as now.

Nevertheless, one has also to make judgements on relative terms. One must compare Chandrachud's innings with those of others who held the position during this period. In this perspective, one must compliment Chandrachud and his predecessors, Justices UU Lalit and N V Ramana, for one crucial service. Among all those who occupied the exalted seat of the CJI in the past decade, these three deserve the maximum credit for one important thing. They tried with some success, in restoring the credibility of the country’s........

© Mathrubhumi English