Supreme court judges row: Days after four senior judges had targetted Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, a senior RSS leader has claimed that there was a political conspiracy behind the much-debated press conference on January 12. J Nandakumar has also lashed out at four top judges, Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, M B Lokur and Kurian Joseph over the move, saying what ‘they have done is unforgivable’ because ‘they have tried to attack the uncompromising faith of the people in the judicial system’.
Nandakumar, who is Akhil Bharatiya Sah Boudhik Pramukh of the RSS, has accused the four judges of ‘poisoning the waters’. He has also alleged that the public attack against the CJI came after his order to reopen cases relating to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. He has also claimed that Congress leader and senior lawyer Kapil Sibal was pulled up for seeking deferment of the Ayodhya title suit case till after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
“All these (developments) and Left leader D Raja’s visit to (the house of) one of the Justices, who addressed the press conference, indicate a perfect political conspiracy behind this. The timing was critical,” Nandakumar was quoted as saying by Indian Express. Nandakumar, whose Twitter handle introduces him as National Convenor of Prajna Pravah and RSS All India Executive Committee Member, however said he is not authorised to speak for the RSS.
Days after four senior judges publicly hurled accusations against the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, a bench headed by him yesterday turned down a plea for stern action against them after a lawyer raked up the issue in the court room. “No, no,” said Chief Justice Dipak Misra, heading a bench which also comprised Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, when lawyer R P Luthra referred to the January 12 press conference held by four judges on the issue of assignment of cases and sought stern action in the matter.
“The temple of justice cannot be destroyed by a group of people. Please proceed, whether it is contempt. No one should be allowed to destroy the top institution. “We will not allow the institution to be destroyed by anti-national people,” Luthra, who had earlier challenged the appointments made to the higher judiciary in the absence of Memorandum of Procedure (MoP), said.
The lawyer did not specify whether he was seeking action against the four judges. The bench chose not to comment on the submissions and went ahead with the mentioning and other listed cases. It was on Luthra’s plea that a two-judge bench of the apex court had on October 27 last year had agreed to examine the issue of delay in finalisation of MoP for appointment of judges in higher judiciary on judicial side. However, a three judge bench headed by the CJI later recalled the order on examining the issue of delay.
