Attorney General KK Venugopal on Friday said the press conference held by four senior Supreme Court judges to speak out against the administration of the India’s top court could have been avoided, PTI reported.
Earlier on Friday, Justice J Chelameswar, who is lower in seniority only to Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, said the Supreme Court owed a responsibility to the institution and the nation.
He was joined by three other judges, Justice Rajan Gogoi, Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Kurian Joseph, who all said they were speaking out now so that “democracy survives”, as their attempts to get the chief justice of India to address a crisis had gone unanswered.
The judges were referring to Chief Justice Misra’s allocation of cases in the Supreme Court, which many have questioned, most vocally after he moved the Medical Colleges bribery scam from Justice Chelameshwar’s court to his own in November 2017.
“We tried to collectively persuade the chief justice of India that certain things are not right and remedial measures need to be taken, but unfortunately we failed,” Chelameswar said.
The attorney general met the chief justice soon after the press conference. “The judges will now have to act in statesmanship and ensure that the divisiveness is wholly neutralised and total harmony and mutual understanding will prevail in future,” he said.
However, Venugopal refused to give details of his meeting with Misra and others. “I had promised to the judges that I will not speak to the media,” he said, adding that the entire matter will be resolved by Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Law PP Chaudhary said the judges will resolve the matter among themselves, Hindustan Times reported. “The judiciary is independent and reputed. They will resolve it themselves,” he said.
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