Truth behind ’selectively assigning’ cases to a particular bench of Supreme Court

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Jan 15, 2018 : The letter written by four senior judges of the Supreme Court raises serious objections to one particular bench being assigned sensitive and important cases. At the heart of the controversy is the way in which matters have been put up before a particular bench, which four judges argue is unfair exercise of CJI’s administrative power.

 

Two key cases have been spoken of widely - one is the MCI admissions scam and the other being Judge Loya’s death which seemed to be the trigger of this entire controversy. Both of these cases have been heard by the bench, which had Justice Arun Mishra.

Yesterday’s public outbursts by four senior judges of the Supreme Court were preceded with incidents that showed unease in the top court in recent times. It was on November 10 last year when the seeds of this dissent were sown.

Ugly scenes broke out in the Supreme Court with Prashant Bhushan openly alleging CJI’s involvement in corruption. An angry Bhushan walked out of the court when he wasn’t allowed to speak.

Few days later, the plea of the MCI scam was referred to the bench with Justice Arun Mishra. He was given this matter despite him being part of the five judge bench which overturned the order of Justice Chelameswar. Critics argue that the matter should have been referred to another bench in the spirit of fairness.

When the constitution bench of five judges was formed to overturn the order of Justice Chelameswar, Justice Arun Mishra had made a strong pitch for protecting the integrity of the office of the CJI. During the hearing Justice Mishra pulled up Prashant Bhushan for his ’careless remarks’ on the CJI.

Justice Mishra during the constitution bench hearing was also very vocal as to how the conduct of Prashant Bhushan was improper and his petition did not have much merit.

Upon hearing the MCI scam case, bench with Justice Arun Mishra dismissed the plea of Prashant Bhushan and severely criticised his conduct. In a related petition a cost of Rs 25 lakh was also imposed on the petitioners. After the verdict, the dust seemed to have settled but a hurricane was in the making.

Then the matter of the death of Judge Loya, who allegedly died under mysterious circumstances, was also referred to the bench that had Justice Arun Mishra. Senior advocates Indira Jaising and Dushyant Dave did not want the bench to hear the matter. They argued that the matter is pending in the Bombay High Court and the bench should not hear the matter.

However, the bench of Justice Arun Mishra asked the state of Maharashtra to file a response in the case, much to the surprise of the critics.



courtesy: Yahoo