Whenever a new government comes to power, things are set to change. But at times, it is the executive which is handicapped and the Modi government is no exception. This is especially so in judicial appointments of the highest order. The\u00a0Mod<\/a>i government will have to abide by the decision taken by a five-judge Supreme Court (SC) collegium, which\u00a0elevated two former solicitor generals\u2014Gopal Subramanium\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0Rohinton Fali Nariman<\/a>\u2014to the top court. Even though their names are yet to be sent to the president for the issue of \u201cwarrant of appointment\u201d, the appointments are now binding on the\u00a0Modi\u00a0<\/a>government.<\/p>\n Both Subramanium and Nariman were appointed during the previous Congress-led UPA government and fought several controversial cases for it, including those related to scams. The two had demitted office amid controversial circumstances. Once they become SC judges, with several years left for their retirement, the chances of either of them becoming chief justice of India\u2014even within Modi\u2019s tenure\u2014are quite strong, which could cause trouble for the PM.<\/p>\n While Modi will have to bear with the two, the only option he has is long-term \u2014bring about changes in law and curb the powers of judiciary in appointments, which, in fact, UPA had also tried to bring about through the 120th Constitution Amend-ment Bill.<\/p>\n Their appointment to the Supreme Court also raises the issue of supersession of several senior high court judges. The only precedent that exists is that of\u00a0Justice Kuldip Singh<\/a>\u00a0and Justice Santosh N Hegde being brought directly to the SC.<\/p>\n Gopal Subramanium, 56, was appointed additional solicitor general in 2005 and continued in the post till May 2009. In July 2007, he acted as amicus curiae to assist the SC in the sensational Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case and slammed the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat for filing a charge-sheet on the basis of shoddy investigation to shield the \u201creal culprits\u201d.<\/p>\n He told the SC bench of Justices (retired) Tarun Chatterjee and PK Balasubramanyan that the chargesheet would \u201cbenefit the accused.\u201d Terming it an unacceptable chargesheet, he said: \u201cIt speaks about Sohrabuddin and his wife Kausar Bi, killed two days after her husband was killed in a fake encounter. But there was no mention of the third person (Prajapati), who was picked up from the bus proceeding to Ahmedabad and killed along with Sohrabuddin and Kausar Bi.\u201d<\/p>\n Subramanium, incidentally, has also served in other high-profile cases and his profile speaks volumes about his academic and professional expertise. He served as counsel for the\u00a0Justice Verma Commission<\/a>, which examined the security lapses leading to the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. He also assisted the apex court in the case of petrol pump allotment to widows of Kargil martyrs by the Vajpayee government; was counsel for the Justice K Venkataswami Inquiry Commission that probed the Tehelka tapes exposing corruption; and was special public prosecutor in the parliament attack case.![\"legal4\"](\"http:\/\/indialegalonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/legal4.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nHigh profile judges<\/h3>\n
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