56 judges /STATEMENT BY JUDGES We, as former judges of this country, feel compelled to place on record our strong disagreement with the recent statement issued by a group of retired judges and activists. It has become a predictable pattern, wherein every major political development is met with statements from the same quarters. These statements are determined to cloak their political partisanship under the language of judicial independence. This practice does a great disservice to the institution we once served, as it projects judges as political actors. This erodes the prosperity, dignity and neutrality that the office of a judicial officer demands. S. No. Name 1. Justice P. Sathasivam, Former Chief Justice of India 2. Justice Ranjan Gogoi Former Chief Justice of India 3. Justice AK Sikri Former Judge, Supreme Court of India

STATEMENT BY JUDGES
We, as former judges of this country, feel compelled to place on record our strong disagreement with the recent statement issued by a group of retired judges and activists.
It has become a predictable pattern, wherein every major political development is met with statements from the same quarters. These statements are determined to cloak their political partisanship under the language of judicial independence. This practice does a great disservice to the institution we once served, as it projects judges as political actors. This erodes the prosperity, dignity and neutrality that the office of a judicial officer demands.
S. No. Name
1. Justice P. Sathasivam, Former Chief Justice of India
2. Justice Ranjan Gogoi Former Chief Justice of India
3. Justice AK Sikri Former Judge, Supreme Court of India
4. Justice (Retd) M R Shah, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India
5. Justice Suresh Kait, Former Chief Justice, Madhya Pradesh High Court
6. Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey, Former Chief Justice, Jammu and Kashmir
High Court
7. Justice Navniti Prasad Singh, Former Chief Justice, Kerala High Court
8. Justice SK Mittal, Former Chief justice Rajasthan, High Court
9. Justice L. Narsimha Reddy, Former Chief Justice, Patna High Court
10. Justice M. C Bhagwati, Former Judge, Rajasthan High Court
11. Justice Banwari Lal Sharma, Former Judge, Rajasthan High Court
A fellow retired judge has chosen, of his own volition, to contest the election for the office of the Vice President of India. By doing so, he has stepped into the political arena as a candidate supported by the opposition. Having made that choice, he must defend his candidacy like any other contestant, in the realm of political debate. To suggest otherwise is to stifle democratic discourse and to misuse the cover of judicial independence for political convenience.
Judicial independence is not threatened by the criticism of a political candidate. What truly tarnishes the reputation of the judiciary is when former judges repeatedly issue partisan statements, giving the impression that the institution itself is aligned with political battles. As a result of these tactics, because of the fault of a few, the larger body of judges ends up being painted as partisan coterie. This is neither fair nor healthy for India’s judiciary or democracy.
We therefore strongly call upon our brother judges to desist from lending their names to politically motivated statements. Let those who have chosen the path of politics defend themselves in that realm. The institution of the judiciary must be kept above and distinct from such entanglements.

12. Justice Nilu Agarwal Former Judge, Patna High Court
13. Justice Hemant Srivastava Former Judge, Patna High Court
14. Dr. Devendra Kumar Arora, Former Judge, Allahabad High Court and
Former Chairman RERA Authority
15. Justice Sambhu Nath Srivastava, Former Judge, Allahabad High Court, and
Former Lokayukt Chhatigarh
16. Justice HS Bhalla , Former Judge, Punjab & Haryana High Court
17. Justic Virender Kumar, Former Judge, Delhi High Court
18. Justice RS Chauhan , Former Judge, Rajasthan High Court
19. Justice Amitabh Kumar Gupta, Former Judge, Jharkhand High Court
20. Justice Rekha Dikshit, Former Judge, Allahabad High Court and Former
Chairman State Administrative Service Tribunal Uttar Pradesh
21. Justice Rang Nath Pandey Former Judge, Allahabad High Court
22. Justice P.N Singh, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh High Court
23. Justice D K Paliwal Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh High Court
24. Justice Sanjay Dwivedi, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh High Court
25. Justice Birender Kumar Former Judge, Patna High Court
26. Justice Hari Om Maratha, Former Judge, Delhi High Court
27. Justice K.C Puri Former Judge, Punjab and Haryana High Court
28. Justice Hemant Srivastava, Former Judge, Patna High Court
29. Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, Former Judge, Kolkata High Court
30. Justice Akhilesh Chandra Sharma, Former Judge, Allahabad High Court
31. Justice Sonam, Phintso Wangdi Former Judge, Sikim High Court
32. Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal, Former Judge, Delhi High Court
33. Justice Lok Pal Singh, Former Judge, Uttarakhand High Court
34. Justice Rakesh Kumar Garg, Former Judge, Punjab & Haryana High Court
35. Dr. S.N Agarwal Former Judge, Punjab & Haryana
36. Justice KS Srivastava, Former Judge, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh
37. Justice S.P Pathak, Former Judge, Rajasthan High Court
38. Justice Dharmesh Sharma, Former Judge, Delhi High Court
39. Justice RS Malik, Former Judge, Punjab & Haryana High Court
40. Justice Rajender Verma, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh High Court
41. Justice Vivek Bharti Sharma, Former Judge Uttarakhand High Court
42. Justice Subhash Chandra Sharma, Former Judge Jharkhand High Court
43. Justice Prabhat Kumar Jha, Former Judge High Court Patna
44. Justice Rakesh Kumar, Former Judge High Court Patna
45. Justice Pratyush Kumar, Former Justice High Court, Allahabad (Lucknow)
46. Justice Surendra Singh, Former Judge Allahabad High Court
47. Justice A D Tripathi, Former Judge Allahabad High Court
48. Justice Rajesh Kumar, Former Judge Allahabad High Court
49. Justice Ranvijay Singh, Former Judge Allahabad High Court
50. Justice Ram surat Ram Maurya, Former Judge Allahabad High Court
51. Justice Vijay Laxmi, Former Judge Allahabad High Court
52. Justice VB Gupta, Former Judge, Delhi High Court
53. Justice Brijesh Sethi, Former Judge High court of Delhi
54. Justice R.C Varshney, Former Judge, Madhya Pradesh High Court
55. Justice Ambadas Haribhau Joshi, Former Justice, Bombay High Court
56. Justice Ravindran Former Judge, Supreme Court of India