Judges' row: Lawyers' bodies express grave concern over crisis

New Delhi, Jan 13 (PTI) Various lawyers' bodies todayexpressed "grave concern" over the differences arising betweenthe CJI and four top judges of t...

New Delhi, Jan 13 (PTI) Various lawyers' bodies todayexpressed "grave concern" over the differences arising betweenthe CJI and four top judges of the Supreme Court and passedseparate resolutions urging the senior judges to resolve theissue by in-house mechanism within the constitutionalframework.

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), the SupremeCourt Advocates-on-Record Associations (SCAORA) and the BarCouncil of India (BCI) in close-door emergency meetingsdeliberated the situation arising out of the controversialpress conference by four seniormost apex court judgesyesterday.

While the SCBA and the SCAORA confined their deliberationto the judiciary, the BCI, the apex body regulating thelawyers, cautioned against politicising the crisis.

BCI chairperson Manan Kumar Mishra without taking name ofany leader, said, "No political party or leader should takeundue advantage of the situation arising out of the pressconference by four senior Supreme Court judges."The reference of political parties and the leadersassumed significance as Congress president Rahul Gandhi hadyesterday addressed the media after the judges went publicwith their grievances.

Mishra said a seven-member delegation led by him willtomorrow meet rest of the apex court judges to know theirviews about the situation and later they would consult withthe four senior judges who held the presser. Thereafter thedelegation would speak to the CJI and discuss the entirecrisis.

The SCBA, which expressed "grave concern" over thedifferences of the four seniormost judges with Chief Justiceof India (CJI) Dipak Misra, said the issue should beimmediately considered by the full court of the apex court.

The SCBA executive committee, which held an emergencymeeting, resolved that all public interest litigation (PIL)matters, including pending PILs, should be either taken up bythe CJI or be assigned for adjudication to four seniorjudges who were part of the apex court collegium.

Besides CJI Misra, others in the collegium in accordancewith seniority are -- justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurian Joseph.

The four judges had in an unprecedented press conferenceyesterday mounted a virtual revolt against the CJI, listing alitany of problems including the assigning of cases.

SCBA president and senior advocate Vikas Singh said thata resolution for the full court consideration was passed as itis a mechanism in which deliberations by all the judges of thetop court takes place in-house and not in the open.

In a resolution, the SCAORA said it was "pained" by theevents which, according to it, "tarnished" the reputation ofthe apex court.

"Executive Committee of SCAORA is concerned and painedwith all the events which have tarnished the reputation andimage of our esteemed institution.

"It urges stake holders to exercise restraint andrequests them to resolve all issues internally and within theconstitutional framework," the resolution said.

The SCBA resolution further said that matters listed forhearing in the apex court on January 15 "should also betransferred" from other judges to the five seniormost judgeswho were part of the collegium.

"The differences that have been reported in the pressconference by the four senior judges of the Supreme Court andthe other differences which are reflected in the newspapersare of grave concern and should be immediately considered bythe full court of the Supreme Court," Singh said while readingout the resolution.

"It is further unanimously resolved by the executivecommittee of the Supreme Court Bar Association that all PILmatters including the pending PIL matters should be eithertaken up by the Chief Justice of India, or if he has to assignto any other bench, it should be assigned to the judges in thecollegium. Even the matters listed on Monday i.e. January 15,2018, should also be transferred as per our request," it said.

The SCBA president, who addressed the media after comingout of the over hour-long meeting of the executive committee,however, did not comment on whether the senior judges shouldhave gone public with their grievances.

Singh said that if required, the SCBA would seek anappointment with the CJI and other judges to talk about thedevelopments which were a matter of grave concern.

The four judges had yesterday said there were certainissues afflicting the country's highest court and warned thatthey could destroy Indian democracy.

The press conference by the judges had left the judiciaryand observers stunned, leaving uncertain how this opendissension in the hallowed institution would be resolved. PTIMNL ABA UK SJK RKSZMN.

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.

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