Days after demitting his office, former Supreme Court judge Kurian Joseph claimed that former Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra was “remote-controlled” by an external source which impacted the administration of justice.
Justice Joseph was among the four senior judges of the apex court who convened an unprecedented January 12 press conference this year to flag their concerns about preferential allocation of sensitive cases to judges low down on the top court’s hierarchy.
“The then CJI was working under some influence of some external source. He was remote-controlled by an external source that was impacting the administration of justice,” Justice Joseph said adding that the issues which were highlighted in the press conference have started showing some positive changes. Justice Joseph added that former CJI wasn’t taking decisions independently.
The allocation of petitions seeking a re-investigation into the death of judge Loya – as is commonly perceived – was not the only reason for the press conference, he said.
The Supreme Court on April 19 rejected the PILs seeking probe into the death of special CBI judge B H Loya, ruling he had died of natural causes. Loya, who was hearing the high-profile Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, died of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014 when he had gone to attend a wedding.
Assembly polls diverted party
Before it got busy with the Assembly elections in five states, the Congress had been regularly raising the issue of independence of judiciary and even moved a motion for Misra’s impeachment before Rajya Sabha Chairman who rejected the plea.