In a first ever move, four senior most judges from the Supreme Court addressed a press conference to raise issues they termed ‘less than desirable’ regarding the administration of the nation’s judiciary.
Addressing the conference at the lawns from his residence, the second senior most judge Justice Jasti Chelameswar said this is “an extraordinary event in the history of the nation”.
“With no pleasure we are compelled to take the decision to call a press conference. The administration of the SC is not in order and many things which are less than desirable have happened in the last few months,” he said.
Chelameswar was accompanied by Justices Ranjan Gogoi, Kurian Joseph, and Madan Lokur.
Training his guns on the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, Justice Chelameswar said:
We tried to persuade the CJI (even today morning) but we failed. Our efforts to seek remedial measures failed. Unless this institution is preserved, democracy will not survive in this country.
Chelameswar said that a two months ago, the four judges had submitted a letter to the CJI seeking “a particular thing to be done in a particular manner”.
“It was done, but in such a way that it raised further questions on integrity of institution,” he said.
When asked if Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra should be impeached, Chelameswar said: “Let the nation decide that".
The meeting comes on a day when the SC heard a petition for a special investigation into the death of Judge Loya in 2014, who passed away while hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.
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