CJI meets rebelling judges in attempt to end impasse Lawyer Prashant Bhushan calls for probe against CJI
COLLEGIUM RIFT No breakthrough yet, another meeting scheduled for today; CJI leaves four senior judges out of the constitution bench
The Chief Justice of India (CJI), Dipak Misra, on Tuesday took the first step towards healing the rift in the top court by meeting in his chambers the four judges who had aired grievances against him in a press conference last week.
The meeting, which started at 10.10am, lasted for around 15 minutes, before the judges took up their work for their day, said people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified. They added that the meeting remained inconclusive, but that the five judges, the senior most in the Supreme Court, will meet again on Wednesday.
On Friday, the four senior most judges in the apex court after the CJI — Justices Jasti Chelameswar, Kurian Joseph, Ranjan Gogoi, and MB Lokur — had held an extraordinary press conference where they publicly criticised the CJI over allocation of cases and constitution of benches.
The judges complained that “administration of Supreme Court is not in order and there have been things less than desira-
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ble that have happened in the court”.
They went on to add that the Chief justice was abusing his position as the ‘master of the roster’, and assigning cases having far-reaching consequences for the nation and the institution selectively to benches “of his preference” without any rationale basis for such assignment.
Their criticism doesn’t seem to have had any effect on the CJI, though. The Constitution Bench that begins hearings Wednesday on several important cases doesn’t have any of the four judges. After the Friday media conference by the quartet, there have been efforts by sitting judges and some others to mediate a solution to the crisis.
Bar council of India, the apex regulatory body for advocates in the country, set up a seven-member delegation that met the Chief Justice of India and 14 other judges of the top court on Sunday.
The Supreme Court Bar association too pitched in with efforts and its president Vikas Singh met the Chief Justice of India and other judges.
A group of activists and lawyers led by senior advocate Prashant Bhushan on Tuesday accused Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra of abusing his powers in a case relating to de-affiliation of a medical college and demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe.
Bhushan’s press conference came on a day when the first signs of thaw between the CJI and his four senior-most colleagues emerged, four after the judges raised question over assignment of cases by Misra.
“There are four serious charges against the CJI… In the medical college case, an investigation is necessary to ascertain whether the CJI is involved in the conspiracy,” said Bhushan, who addressed the press meet in New Delhi as the convener of the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR).
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