NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Saturday said his remarks on Friday were specifically directed at individuals entering the legal profession through "fake and bogus degrees" and were "misquoted by a section of the media."
The CJI said he was "pained" by media reports that suggested he called youth “parasites” and "cockroaches”.
The clarification followed a controversy over his certain remarks during a hearing on Friday while pulling up a lawyer for his plea seeking senior designation.
"I am pained to read how a section of the media has misquoted my oral observations made during the hearing of a frivolous case yesterday," he said in a statement.
He said, "What I had specifically criticised were those who have entered professions like the Bar (legal profession) with the aid of fake and bogus degrees. Similar persons have sneaked into the media, social media, and other noble professions as well, and hence, they are like parasites.”
He added that it was “totally baseless” to suggest that he criticised the youth of the nation.
“Not only am I proud of our present and future human resources, but every youth of India inspires me. It is not an exaggeration to say that Indian youth have great regard and respect for me, and I too see them as the pillars of a developed India," he said.
The comments in question came while a bench of CJI Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was pulling up the lawyer for "pursuing" a senior advocate designation.
"The entire world may be eligible to become senior (advocate), but at least you are not entitled," the bench told the petitioner lawyer.
The CJI said that if the Delhi High Court would confer senior advocate designation upon the petitioner, the apex court would set that aside seeing his professional conduct.
The CJI also referred to the kind of language used by the petitioner on Facebook.
"There are already parasites of society who attack the system and you want to join hands with them? There are youngsters like cockroaches, who don't get any employment or have any place in profession. Some of them become media, some of them become social media, RTI activists and other activists and they start attacking everyone," he said.
The bench also asked the petitioner whether he did not have any other litigation.
"Is this the conduct of a person who seeks to be designated as a senior advocate? You are pursuing it. Does it look proper?" the bench had said, asking whether a senior advocate designation was a status symbol to be kept ornamentally.
The bench had also said that it wanted to ask the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to verify the degrees of many of those who were wearing black robes, as there were serious doubts over the genuineness of their degrees.
It said the Bar Council of India would never do anything on this issue, as they needed their votes.
The petitioner apologised to the bench and sought permission to withdraw the petition. The bench allowed the withdrawal of the petition.