Hegde Bengaluru, Jan 13 (PTI) Former Supreme Court judge NSantosh Hegde today "wholly" condemned the action of foursenior judges in going public over internal matters of thejudiciary, saying it affected the reputation of theinstitution and may amount to contempt of court.
Questioning their action, he said internal matters of thejudiciary should not have been brought to the public fordiscussion, because neither the public, nor the government orthe executive can give any relief to them.
"I wholly condemn the press meet yesterday held by the four judges of the Supreme Court.
"My complaint is these things should not have beenpublicly discussed, consequent to which the reputation of thejudiciary has been affected," he told PTI.
In an unprecedented move in the country's judicialhistory, Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokurand Kurian Joseph had held a press conference yesterday andmounted a virtual revolt against Chief Justice of India DipakMisra, questioning him on the 'selective' allocation of casesand certain judicial orders passed by him.
Hegde, a former Lokayukta of Karnataka, said their actionwould not benefit anybody other than drawing public attention.
He said institutions like the judiciary survive on theconfidence of the people.
"Once the confidence of the people is lost, theinstitution will be useless," he said.
Agreeing that the judges' intention was to 'bring themuck out of the system, he disapproved of their approach as itwould set a new precedent where judges of High Courts and theSupreme Court would start bringing their differences into thepublic domain.
On whether their action was liable for impeachment,Hegdesaid he does not want to go to that extent, though he felt itcan be possible, given the fact that a Calcutta High Courtjudge was impeached for contempt of court.
He however, felt that their action may amount to contemptof court.
"Yes, it may amount to contempt of court but I am nottalking about that...I don't want to take the issue to anotherdirection. I am only questioning the action of the four judgeswho came out saying that the Chief Justice is being givingcases according to his whims and fancies.
"Yes, that is the jurisdiction given to him. And why not?That bench before which the case is posted does not have onlyperson. There are two other judges there." "That means you are suspecting the three judges. Let usnot denigrate the institution," said Hegde. PTI GMS RA APRAPR.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.