Comment is free, but facts are sacred
It breaks my heart every time I see lawyers, activists and journalists –who, really, have no excuse for being ignorant on what is essentially public information – persist that the vetting of judges and magistrates should be public. That they go ahead and accuse the Vetting of Judges and Magistrates Board of having a hidden agenda, for holding their proceedings in camera, is simply absurd and mean. I have also seen and heard Mr Sharad Rao, the chairman of the Board, many times, come out to explain to the public that the law does not allow for public hearings. But every time he makes that statement, he wakes up to screaming letters-to-the-editor, opinions, commentaries, press conferences and voices in all manner of platforms, all urging him to make the proceedings, public. For starters, the Board is a creation of an Act of Parliament. That piece of legislation is the Vetting of Judges and Magistrates Act. It has an explicit clause on how the proceedings of the Boar