A press conference conducted by four senior judges attracted the worldās attention towards India. Did CJIās approach in āthoseā cases trigger displeasure amongst other judges?
Judiciary plays a prominent role in the functioning of democracy. Especially, in a country where the government says people donāt have absolute ownership of their own body. Unfortunately, India is perhaps the only country where its law minister asks citizens to ignore incidents of a data breach involving biometric data.
Yesterday, the nation was jeopardized in the morning when most of the news channels ticker announced that four Supreme Court judges are set to address a press conference to discuss some issues. By afternoon, the picture was clear; Supreme Courtās top four judges conducted a press conference and announced that all is not well between them and the CJI, Dipak Misra.
Justice Kurien Joseph, Justice Madan Lokur, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, and Justice Jasti Chelameswar addressed the journalists. They shared their opinion that the administration of the country’s highest court is not in order and it is essential for them to come in public and protect the independence of the judiciary. All four judges are tagged as the ones with unquestionable integrity within the legal circles.
They pointed out that the CJI Dipak Misra is intentionally making sure some critical cases, including Justice B H Loya death case, are not assigned to senior judges. Instead, cases were assigned to benches consisting Justice Arun Mishra as the common judge in all.
āThoseā cases
As pointed out by lawyer Apurva Vishwanath in her article published by the Print, certain vital cases like the medical colleges’ scam, Sahara Birla Diary, Aircel-Maxis deal, Justice Loya death case were selectively assigned to benches consisting Justice Arun Mishra. This is something that prompted the four judges to approach the CJI and discuss their opinion. However, they claim the CJI failed to resolve their issues. Hence, they decided to put everything in front of the nation.
This should be looked at as a welcome step and will help in bringing more transparency in the justice system. After all, our judiciary is not as transparent as the American one. More judges may choose to go the press conference way to share their grievances with the public during the next few months.
Dr. Subramanian Swamy was the first politician to welcome this move and support the four judges openly.Ā As expected, the Congress tried to earn political mileage by blaming the BJP, while the supporters of saffron party tried to link Justice Jasti Chelameswar with D Raja just because the MP met the senior judge after the press conference.
“Prashant Bhushan’s valid petition was dismissed, and Rs.25 lakhs were imposed as a cost recently. Politically sensitive cases were handed over to junior judges. No doubt, cases were handled in an alarmingly arbitrary manner, āsaid a young lawyer who does not wish to be named. As of now, the government is on a wait and watch mode. Now letās take a look at how prominent people reacted to the press conference.
#SCJudgesMutiny — No one should interfere in the SC matter. I want to raise a voice and demand a clarification on a special bench for special cases. It's a serious matter. All those who care about the future of the country & of democracy should raise their voice: Yashwant Sinha pic.twitter.com/UG8zBKF5cQ
— News18 (@CNNnews18) January 13, 2018
#EXCLUSIVE — #SCJudgesMutiny: No need to go public & leaving ambiguity behind was the mistake. They gave scope to speculations. SCBA will now be proactive & make sure that this doubt instilled in people is taken care of: SC Bar Association,President Vikas Singh to @akash_kolluru pic.twitter.com/ADHjaupRSr
— News18 (@CNNnews18) January 13, 2018
'When the history of this country will be written these 4 judges will be remembered for their courage and risk they have taken: @_YogendraYadav to @Zakka_Jacob on #FaceoffAt9 #SCJudgesMutiny
— News18 (@CNNnews18) January 12, 2018
Truly unprecedented! Kudos to 4 seniormost judges of SC who addressed a Press Conf today to apprise the people about the extraordinary abuse of 'master of roster' powers by CJI in selectively assigning politically sensitive cases to hand picked junior judges for desired outcome
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) January 12, 2018
The Supreme Court of India was turning into another "caged parrot" till some parrots started screeching in pain and protest. Bravo!
— Abhay Vaidya (@abhay_vaidya) January 13, 2018
Why go public, asks former CJI T.S. Thakur
I am sure the Supreme Court has enough wisdom and capacity to sort it out, says T.S. Thakurhttps://t.co/BEP8ElZIu1
— Nitten Gokhaley (@Nitten4u) January 13, 2018
Grievances of the (top court) judges should have been addressed and solved by CJI: Former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha to NDTV
— NDTV (@ndtv) January 12, 2018
"Chief Justice must show statesmanship," says former Chief Justice RM Lodha, "pained" https://t.co/wJjSCDVrSo pic.twitter.com/OaU9zoBOWR
— NDTV (@ndtv) January 12, 2018
AG KK Venugopal: "What happened today could have been avoided. Judges will now have to act in statesmanship & ensure that divisiveness is wholly neutralised & total harmony & mutual understanding will prevail in future…."I had promised to judges that I would not speak to media
— J Gopikrishnan (@jgopikrishnan70) January 12, 2018
.@salman7khurshid, Former Law Minister: This has been simmering for a while and it has finally surfaced. It is worrisome. #JudiciaryDivided pic.twitter.com/G6JPil3vGp
— Mirror Now (@MirrorNow) January 12, 2018
My article in today's Indian Express https://t.co/hEfzBHs6Tq
— Kapil Sibal (@KapilSibal) January 13, 2018
Wording of letter by 4Judges is v serious, v strong. Beyond bounds of reasonable probability that 4different, unconnected judges hv such strong views wo any issue arising. These are seniormost judges. They consider demo imperilled. They said they donāt want 2sell their souls.
— Abhishek Singhvi (@DrAMSinghvi) January 12, 2018
Also Read:Ā Judicial pendencies are due to the lack of the judges?