NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday deleted its observations criticising Allahabad High Court judge Prashant Kumar for allowing criminal proceedings in a civil dispute case, clarifying that its “intention was not to embarrass or cast aspersions on him”.
In its order on August 4, a bench of justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan had taken strong exception to Justice Kumar’s handling of a case for treating a civil dispute as a criminal case.
The bench barred the judge from hearing criminal matters till his retirement, adding, “The Allahabad High Court chief justice shall make the judge sit in a division bench with a seasoned senior HC judge.”
However, the SC’s caustic verdict ran into constitutional trouble as the HC CJ is the master of the roster, not the SC. While CJI Gavai was exploring ways to remedy the situation, 13 judges of the Allahabad High Court urged their Chief Justice Arun Bhansali to convene a full court meeting and refuse compliance with the SC order. With the situation snowballing, the CJI urged the Pardiwala bench to reconsider its fiat.