NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India B R Gavai and Justice Surya Kant, who is next in line to succeed him, have disapproved of the tendency of judges of superior courts to comment on the knowledge and ability of lower court judges, and said the Supreme Court and high courts are only to correct, modify impugned orders/judgments, or set them aside, if they were perverse.“The high courts are not subordinate to the SC as both are constitutional courts. SC can only rectify, modify or set aside the orders/judgments of HCs. The Constitution gives no authority to comment on the ability, capability or knowledge of individual judges of HCs,” the CJI told TOI.Justice Kant agreed. “Superior court judges must discharge their role as friend, philosopher and guide for lower court judges. In the three-tiered justice delivery system, persuasion and guidance yields better results than criticism and castigation,” Justice Kant, who’ll take over from Gavai on Nov 24, told TOI.

Remarks of the CJI as well as Justice Kant assume significance in the wake of an SC bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan criticising an Allahabad HC judge for passing “the worst and most erroneous order” and barring him from hearing criminal cases. The bench Friday expunged its directions for de-rostering the judge while requesting the HC chief justice to look into the matter.

Endorsing the vision encapsulated in the saying ‘a judge who has not committed a mistake is yet to be born’, CJI B R Gavai told TOI that the same principle applies to HC judges, who should refrain from castigating judicial officers on the ground of lack of ability, knowledge or capability while hearing appeals against impugned orders authored by them.“They must administratively convey how to improve and in which area. For that, HC CJs concerned have a significant role to play. The role of superior courts in imparting required training to lower court judges in various aspects of adjudication, acquiring knowledge in myriad fields of law and maintaining proper demeanour and decorum in the courtroom will shape the future of the justice delivery system and reinforce people’s faith in judiciary,” the CJI said.Justice Kant said HC judges and judicial officers come from various social strata and bring with them a wealth of real-life experiences which can be harnessed, modulated and sharpened with legal training to enrich the justice delivery system to meet day-to-day challenges of open court hearing and address grievances of litigants. “On the judicial side, SC has no authority to dictate to HCs which of their judges would hear what types of cases or the manner in which cases are to be decided. It can only lead by example and guide them with its judgments. Allocation of cases to judges and their roster squarely falls in the exclusive domain of the HC CJ concerned,” Justice Kant said. CJI Gavai said, “Every constitutional court judge, be it in HCs or in SC, has the constitutional responsibility to do justice in each case, whether criminal or civil or any other field of law. Superior court judges have the onerous duty to maintain civility while passing orders or writing judgments.”