In an unprecedented step, four senior judges of the Supreme Court addressed a press conference on January 12 to highlight that the administration of the country’s top court was not in order.
The judges warned that the democracy could not survive in the country unless the institution was preserved.
The conference has brought into public the growing rift between the Chief Justice of India,(CJI ), Dipak Misra and other senior judges of the Supreme Court.
The press conference was held by Justices Jasti Chelameswar, Madan Lokur, Kurian Joseph and Ranjan Gogoi who gathered at Justice Chelameswar’s residence in New Delhi at around noon to address reporters.
These four judges are the senior-most after the CJI Dipak Misra.
Institution of Judiciary Getting Damaged
In their press conference Justice Chelameswar made the following points:
- The administration of the Supreme Court “is not in order”.
- The judges took this step because did not want people to say 20 years later that “we did not take care of the institution”
- The judges had tried to “persuade the CJI “to take necessary steps but failed
- The judges were ”speaking for ourselves”, and have not discussed with anyone else
Justice Gogoi told the reporters that the judges’ public statement should be construed “as a sign of responsibility to the nation and not protest.” Justice Madan Loku also said similarly that nobody was “breaking ranks” .
The judges reiterated that they had repeatedly tried to address their concerns with the CJI but had failed to make any headway. They had also sent a letter two months ago airing their grievances but had not received any response from the CJI .
Answering a question on whether their action related the CBI Judge BH Loya case, Justice Gogoi, said that the issues related to the case was mentioned in the letter.
In the letter the judges said that the CJI was breaking traditions by sending important cases with “far-reaching consequences for the nation” to preferred judges instead of following seniority.
The judges said that such departure had resulted in damaging “the image of this institution to some extent”. The four judges refused to comment regarding the possible impeachment of the CJI, saying it was for the nation to decide .
The Supreme Court bench hearing the Judge Loya case later in the day ordered the Maharashtra government to file the autopsy report of Judge Loya, and directed bi-party hearing on the matter.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reportedly discussed the issue with the law minister RS Prasad.
Judges’ Action Receives Both Support And Censure
The highly unusual event drew a variety of responses.
- Justice RS Sodhi (Retd) censured the move stating such “trade unionism is wrong”
- Congress warned that “democracy is in danger”, while expressing concern that judges had raised alarm regarding the functioning of the Supreme Court
- Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan welcomed the move by the judges to inform the public regarding “the extraordinary abuse of ‘master of roster’ powers by CJI “ in order to “selectively assigning politically sensitive cases” to a few “handpicked” junior judges .
- CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury called for a “thorough, proper investigation” to understand how “independence and integrity of judiciary is being interfered or affected”
- Former Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan stated that he was neither for nor against the four judges on what they did, but called their move “very unfortunate” adding that “this should have been avoided.”
- Justice(Retd) AK Ganguly said that he was “very disturbed” by the judges’ action, but added that it might be because “there might be strong reasons”.
- Senior advocate Indira Jaising congratulated the four judges for their decision.
- Former solicitor general of India N Santosh Hegde stated that he was “devastated” by their action noting that it has caused “irreparable” damage to the institution.
- According to social activist Anna Hazare the judges’ move established that there is a kind of “a nexus between some people in this government and some judges”.
Govt. Urges The Judiciary To Resolve Amongst Themselves
Indicating the government’s possible intention to not get involved, MoS Law PP Chaudhary stated that the judges will “resolve” the issue themselves, noting that the country’s judiciary “is independent and reputed”.
Attorney General K K Venugopal stated that the press conference “could have been avoided” and urged the judges to act in “statesmanship” to ensure complete harmony.
