Krishnadas Rajagopal
NEW DELHI, January 13, 2018 00:25 IST
[Supreme Court Judges (L-R) Kurien Joseph, Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi and Madan B Lokur addressing the Media in New Delhi on Friday.]
Supreme Court Judges (L-R) Kurien Joseph, Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi and Madan B Lokur addressing the Media in New Delhi on Friday. | Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy
CBI judge Loya was hearing the Sohrabuddin encounter case
In an unprecedented act, four senior judges of the Supreme Court on Friday held a press conference and publicly accused Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra of selectively assigning cases to judges of his choice without any rational basis.
Transcending judicial protocol that sitting judges should not interact with the media, Justices Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B. Lokur and Kurian Joseph — the senior-most judges after the CJI — accused Justice Misra of assigning cases of “far-reaching consequences to the nation” to junior hand-picked judges against the time-tested convention, practice and tradition of the court.
In a letter addressed to the CJI and circulated at the press meet, the four said certain Supreme Court judges arrogated to themselves the “authority to deal with and pronounce upon” cases which ought to be heard by other appropriate Benches. The letter is of October 2017 origin.
Efforts at remedy failed
Justice Chelameswar, speaking for the four, said they had collectively tried to persuade the Chief Justice to take remedial measures but their efforts failed.
The judges said that with the independence of the judiciary and the future of democracy at stake, they had “no other choice but communicate to the nation to please take care of this institution.”
Justice Chelameswar said they decided to act now because they did not want “any wise men to say 20 years later that Justices Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Lokur and Kurian sold their souls and did not take care of the interests of this illustrious institution.”
He said, “The administration of the Supreme Court is not in order. Many things undesirable have happened in the last few months. As senior-most judges of the court and of this country, we hold a responsibility to the institution and to the nation.”
Justice Chelameswar recounted that the trigger for the press conference was a meeting they held with the Chief Justice on Friday morning regarding the assignment of a petition, seeking an independent probe into the mysterious death of CBI judge B.H. Loya, to a particular Bench. (Loya was the CBI judge hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheik encounter case).
The four had expressed their reservations to the CJI about the assignation of the Loya case. But the CJI had refused to budge. They had then informed him of their intention to go public.
Though Justice Chelameswar did not name the Loya petition, Justice Gogoi, who is scheduled to take over as Chief Justice of India after Chief Justice Misra retires on October 2 this year, spoke up to say the petition is indeed regarding judge Loya’s death. “Yes, yes. It was the Loya case,” Justice Gogoi said. “It is the discharge of our debt to the nation that brought us here. We have discharged our debt to the nation by saying what is what,” he said. The revelation at the press conference came a couple of hours after a Bench led by Justice Arun Mishra heard the Loya petition.
NEW DELHI, January 13, 2018 00:25 IST
[Supreme Court Judges (L-R) Kurien Joseph, Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi and Madan B Lokur addressing the Media in New Delhi on Friday.]
Supreme Court Judges (L-R) Kurien Joseph, Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi and Madan B Lokur addressing the Media in New Delhi on Friday. | Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy
CBI judge Loya was hearing the Sohrabuddin encounter case
In an unprecedented act, four senior judges of the Supreme Court on Friday held a press conference and publicly accused Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra of selectively assigning cases to judges of his choice without any rational basis.
Transcending judicial protocol that sitting judges should not interact with the media, Justices Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B. Lokur and Kurian Joseph — the senior-most judges after the CJI — accused Justice Misra of assigning cases of “far-reaching consequences to the nation” to junior hand-picked judges against the time-tested convention, practice and tradition of the court.
In a letter addressed to the CJI and circulated at the press meet, the four said certain Supreme Court judges arrogated to themselves the “authority to deal with and pronounce upon” cases which ought to be heard by other appropriate Benches. The letter is of October 2017 origin.
Efforts at remedy failed
Justice Chelameswar, speaking for the four, said they had collectively tried to persuade the Chief Justice to take remedial measures but their efforts failed.
The judges said that with the independence of the judiciary and the future of democracy at stake, they had “no other choice but communicate to the nation to please take care of this institution.”
Justice Chelameswar said they decided to act now because they did not want “any wise men to say 20 years later that Justices Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Lokur and Kurian sold their souls and did not take care of the interests of this illustrious institution.”
He said, “The administration of the Supreme Court is not in order. Many things undesirable have happened in the last few months. As senior-most judges of the court and of this country, we hold a responsibility to the institution and to the nation.”
Justice Chelameswar recounted that the trigger for the press conference was a meeting they held with the Chief Justice on Friday morning regarding the assignment of a petition, seeking an independent probe into the mysterious death of CBI judge B.H. Loya, to a particular Bench. (Loya was the CBI judge hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheik encounter case).
The four had expressed their reservations to the CJI about the assignation of the Loya case. But the CJI had refused to budge. They had then informed him of their intention to go public.
Though Justice Chelameswar did not name the Loya petition, Justice Gogoi, who is scheduled to take over as Chief Justice of India after Chief Justice Misra retires on October 2 this year, spoke up to say the petition is indeed regarding judge Loya’s death. “Yes, yes. It was the Loya case,” Justice Gogoi said. “It is the discharge of our debt to the nation that brought us here. We have discharged our debt to the nation by saying what is what,” he said. The revelation at the press conference came a couple of hours after a Bench led by Justice Arun Mishra heard the Loya petition.
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