Why Has No ‘Distinguished Jurist’ Ever Been Made A SC Judge In 76 Years?

It is undoubtedly entirely in order and so also in the fitness of things that while taking the most commendable step in the right direction, we see that none other than the Supreme Court Judge – Hon’ble Mr Justice Ujjal Bhuyan has stepped forward and called for a very serious debate on the appointment of distinguished jurists as Judges of the Supreme Court. He has very rightly questioned that, “Why has no ‘distinguished jurist’ ever been made a Supreme Court Judge in 76 years?” This is indeed most baffling and cannot be ever justified under any circumstances as we have so many distinguished jurists in last 76 years yet not even one made ever a Supreme Court Judge!

He very rightly underscored that the constitutional provision enabling such appointments has remained unused for over 76 years! I think that it is because Centre fears that if any person other than practicing lawyers are made Supreme Court Judges then they can be more independent in decision making and take prompt action to redress the key issues that ail Indian judiciary like lack of toilets in district courts especially for women due to which women lawyers have to face so many problems and still lying unredressed. We see here that even Supreme Court women Judges never bother to ever speak on it and drag themselves into needless opinion giving on so many other issues which hardly has any impact that affects women lawyers practicing in district courts!

Needless to say, Centre also fears that if distinguished jurists are made Supreme Court Judges then they can crack the whip and take suo motu cognizance of most merciless butchering of equality as enshrined in Article 14 of Constitution in distribution of High Courts and High Court Benches and High Court Circuit Benches in different States and different regions which practicing lawyers who are made Supreme Court Judges never dare to take suo motu cognizance despite the clear writing on the wall! Centre fears that distinguished jurists if made Supreme Court Judges will definitely break the backbone of this most merciless discrimination that has been perpetrated in distribution of High Court Benches especially which culminated in partition of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh 26 years ago!

If one look at the whole picture, we see that it reflects a far deeper malaise which now no more can be hidden from public gaze any longer. How long will Centre keep downplaying and stonewalling the most legitimate and compelling demand for a High Court Bench in West UP and so also in Orissa and Bihar and some other States? This is clearly a stark reminder of how much Centre discriminates most ruthlessly yet is never held accountable even by top court! Why Apex Court never takes Centre to task for it?

How long will Supreme Court abjectly keep playing second fiddle in front of Centre and keep giving unfettered licence to most horrendously and most mercilessly discriminate and perpetrate most atrocious discrimination perpetrated in distribution of High Courts and High Court Benches and High Court Circuit Benches in different States and different regions? Not a single High Court Judge of Allahabad High Court or Patna High Court or Jodhpur High Court or Cuttack High Court or Ahmedabad High Court among others nor even any Judge of Supreme Court has ever dared to take suo motu cognizance of this most merciless butchering of equality as enshrined in Article 14 of Constitution! Biggest insane person on earth in his/her right senses will definitely never endorse what Congress and BJP have done who have ruled in Centre that just one High Court Bench for most populated State of India with maximum number of pending cases and that too so close to Allahabad High Court at Lucknow way back in July 1948 and deprived West UP from having not even a single High Court Bench not even a single High Court Circuit Bench which owes for majority of pending cases of Allahabad High Court which is all on record and has more than 10 crore people and 30 districts and so also attached litigants of 30 districts of West UP and hilly areas of undivided UP with not even Lucknow but right uptill Allahabad which culminated in partition of Uttar Pradesh 26 years ago in which so many people sacrificed their lives and yet Supreme Court never dared to take suo motu cognizance of non-implementation of Justice Jaswant Singh Commission recommendations headed by former Supreme Court Judge appointed by Centre itself which recommended maximum 3 High Court Benches for undivided UP – two High Court Circuit Benches in Dehradun and Nainital and a permanent seat of High Court Bench in West UP yet not even one created anywhere which is a national disgrace and Maharashtra which already had multiple High Court Benches at Nagpur and Panaji one more created at Aurangabad as recommended within a very short span of time in mid 1980s itself for just 7 districts then and now one more fifth High Court Bench approved for just 6 districts at Kolhapur which started functioning from August 18, 2025 without any recommendations from any Commission but in UP not a single Bench created in last 78 years and so also lawless Bihar has none and Rajasthan only one and Orissa and Gujarat none and Centre has equipped only five elite States – Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Assam and Madhya Pradesh with multiple High Court Benches most astoundingly leaving prominent big States like UP, Rajasthan, lawless Bihar out from the elite club!

It must be definitely asked upfront: Why no Judge of Supreme Court ever dares to openly speak on it? Most bone chillingly, even the Supreme Court in last 80 years of independence has never dared to take suo motu cognizance of it and even the press which is considered the fourth pillar of Indian democracy including newspapers and news channels also maintains a conspicuous inexplicable deafening silence on it and hardly ever accords any prime coverage to it!

It must be also disclosed here that Hon’ble Mr Justice Ujjal Bhuyan was delivering the convocation address at the 13th Convocation of National Law University Delhi (NLU Delhi) for its postgraduate programmes. It would be instructive to note that Article 124(3) of the Constitution permits the appointment of a person who is, in the opinion of the President, a distinguished jurist, as a Supreme Court Judge. However, Hon’ble Mr Justice Ujjal Bhuyan pointed out that no jurist has been appointed to the Supreme Court under this provision so far. This is a very sad commentary on the pathetic existing state of affairs which needs to be addressed right now!

Hon’ble Mr Justice Ujjal Bhuyan suggested two possible reasons for this. He said while laying bare his pragmatic view that, “The first is that earlier, when the collegium system was not there, in the view of the Central Government, and thereafter, when the collegium system came into being, in the view of the collegiums, there is not enough depth in Indian academia to be seriously considered for elevation as a Judge of the Supreme Court.” He then offered what he considered the more probable explanation. He pointed out that, “The second, which is more probable, is that both the Central Government and the collegium have not seriously explored this provision thus far.”

We need to note that the Judge traced the provision to the Constituent Assembly Debates and recalled that HV Kamath had proposed expanding the pool of eligible candidates beyond Judges and Advocates to include distinguished jurists. The proposal was ultimately accepted by the Constituent Assembly. Hon’ble Mr Justice Bhuyan said that, “The Constituent Assembly evidently felt it important to have legal academics and professors as Judges of the Supreme Court of India.” Why then not a single jurist appointed as a Judge of Supreme Court of India in last 80 years of independence is a most telling commentary on the manner in which the wishes of the Constituent Assembly have been disregarded with impunity!

What also cannot be lost sight of is that Hon’ble Mr Justice Ujjal Bhuyan rejected the specious argument that academics should not be appointed as Judges because they lack practical experience. He termed it a “shallow objection”. He pointed out most elegantly that, “A distinguished jurist can be a great value addition to the Bench. By his or her scholarship, he or she can make a visible contribution to the decision-making process at the top level.”

It is also worth noting that Hon’ble Mr Justice Ujjal Bhuyan also referred to eminent Constitutional scholar DD Basu’s most enlightening view that bringing academic jurists of the right calibre into the highest court would enrich it. He also lamented pointing out that, “It is regrettable that this provision has remained one of our Constitution’s unused mandates.” He also went on to ably cite the appointment of academics to constitutional courts in jurisdictions including the United States of America, United Kingdom, Canada and Kenya. He concluded that the issue deserves renewed consideration. He underscored seriously pointing out emphatically that, “This is an issue I think the academia needs to debate and put it back into the public domain once again.” Very rightly so!

In conclusion, it must be said that there is a lot of merit in what Hon’ble Mr Justice Ujjal Bhuyan has pointed out so elegantly, eloquently, explicitly, eruditely and to top it all effectively. There is no bona fide reason as to why this need not be given a serious food of thought and debated, deliberated and discussed threadbare! It thus merits no reiteration that this most burning issue definitely can no longer be afforded to be put in the backburner any longer now and needs to be addressed at the earliest!