The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a complaint filed by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy against Justice NV Ramana, Live Law reported. The court said the complaint was dealt with according to the “in-house procedure”.

The decision came hours after reports suggested that Chief Justice of India SA Bobde recommended Ramana to be his successor. Bobde is set to retire on April 23, and Ramana is the second senior-most judge of the Supreme Court.

In a statement issued on Wednesday afternoon, the Supreme Court said that details of the proceedings on Reddy’s complaint will not be made public as it was “strictly confidential”.

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“A complaint dated 6th October, 2020 sent by the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh to the Supreme Court was dealt with under the In-House procedure and the same, on due considerations, stands dismissed,” the court said. “It be noted that all matters dealt with under In-House Procedure being strictly confidential in nature, are not liable to made public.”

Reddy vs Ramana

In October last year, Reddy had written to Bobde accusing Ramana of bias and impropriety. He alleged that the senior judge had been influencing the sittings of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. In the letter, dated October 6, Reddy alleged that cases important to the Opposition Telugu Desam Party were “allocated to a few judges”.

Claiming that Telugu Desam party leaders were beneficiaries of two important judgements of the High Court, Reddy asked Bobde to consider taking steps to ensure that judicial neutrality was maintained in the state. Reddy had also pointed out that Ramana was a legal adviser and additional advocate-general of Andhra Pradesh during the regime of his predecessor Chandrababu Naidu.

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Reddy’s letter was released in public domain by his principal adviser Ajeya Kallam after a Supreme Court bench headed by Ramana ordered proceedings against the chief minister in a disproportionate assets case.

In November 2020, Attorney General KK Venugopal had declined a request from Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Supreme Court lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay to initiate contempt proceedings against Reddy and Kallam for making the allegations.